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THE STORY OF 

MARTHA'S Vineyard 



From the Lips of Its Inhabitants, Newspaper 

Files and Those W^ho Have Visited Its 

Shores, Including Stray Notes 

on Local History and 

Industries 



Collected and arranged by 

C. G. HINE 

and 

Illustrated by C. G. and THOS. A. HINE 



PUBLISHED BY 

HINE BROTHERS 

lOO WILLIAM ST. 
NEW YORK 






LIBRARY of OONGKE.SS 
I wo CoDies rteceiyet. 

MAY 28 1S08 

CL^SS. (^ KXc. No, 
COPY 8. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1908, by C. G. Hink, 
in the office of tlie Librarian of Congress, Wasliington, D. C. 



BEFORE PROCEEDING. 

Professor Shaler wrote in 1874: "Of those who travel, by 
far the larger part are driven about the world by a hunger for 
the curious. The evil demon that pursues them hides the 
beauty of things near at hand with a veil of the commonplace, 
and sets on the horizon beacons that seem to point to fresher 
fields beyond. =■= Martha's Vineyard gives a rich soil, 

beautiful drives, brooks and woods, features denied to its 
bleaker sister to the east." 

The Vineyard has never had its story told in a form that 
could be readily reached. For more than one hundred years 
travelers and scientists have devoted a chapter or more to the 
island and newspapers have paragraphed it, but that is prac- 
tically all. 

This book is an attempt to attach its stories — historical, 
personal and legendary — to the particular spots to which they 
belong and to string them on a thread of description that will 
carry one the length of the island, in the hope that that "hunger 
for the curious" may be temporarily sated. 

"1723 3ber 27, ='= '•'■ '■'■ This night about 10 of the clock 
Thomas Blair departed this life. He had gone some time ago 
to the Jarsies and came home with a fever and ague upon him." 
So says the diary of Rev. William. Homes, of Chilmark. It was 
fever and ague that, 147 years later, drove the writer's family 
from the "Jarsies" to the Vineyard for relief, and so we came 



IV. MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

to know and love this beautiful island. We being entirely in 
accord with Mr. John Brereton who, 306 years ago, wrote : 
"For the agreeing of this climate with us (I speake of my selfe, 
and so I may justly do for the rest of our companie) that we 
found our health and strength all the while we remained there 
so to renew and increase", and "not one of our companie (God 
be thanked) felt the least grudging or inclination to any dis- 
ease or sickness, but were much fatter and in better health 
than when we went out of England". Even as we than when 
we went out of Jersey. 

For most of my material I am indebted to the files of the 
Vineyard Gazette and the Vineyard Herald, and its predecessor 
the Cottage City Star; of the New Bedford Standard and of 
the Mercury, and to the newspaper contributions of Dr. Charles 
E. Banks. To Mr. Charles H. Marchant and those pleasant 
evenings spent within the hospitable "Home Club" of Edgar- 
town. To the writings of Mr. Richard L. Pease and to Mr. 
Beriah T. Hillman and the several friends in the Edgartown 
Court House. To Mr. and Mrs. Howes Norris, of Eastville. 
In Vineyard Haven to Mr. Charles H. Brown, Mrs. Margaret 
Claghorn, Miss Margaret L. Norton, Mr. H. C. Norton, Mr. 
Lorenzo Luce, and others who have dropped me a story or 
helped to complete one. To Mr. Joseph Mingo of Indian Hill, 
Mr. William H. Rotch of West Tisbury, Mrs. Rebecca H. 
Manter of Roaring Brook, Mr. E. Elliot Mayhew, the Dominie 
and the crowd that throngs the store of evenings at "Betel 
Bung Corners", Mr. Eddy C. Flanders and Mr. Daniel Vincent 
at Menemsha, and Mrs. Mary A. Cleggett Vanderhoop of Gay 
Head. My geology is lifted bodily from the writings of Prof. 
N. S. Shaler, whose death was a great loss to Martha's Vine- 



BEFORE PROCEEEDING. V. 

yard ; and beside those mentioned are many who have dropped 
small change into my ever ready cap. 

A recently published "Guide to the Local History of Mas- 
sachusetts", arranged by county and town, has made it easy 
to get at the printed records, but there has been no attempt to 
make an authoritative history, that being left for Dr. Charles 
E. Banks, whose forthcoming volumes will cover the ground 
as I could not hope to do. While acknowledging help, it would 
be a sin against courtesy not to acknowledge that rendered by 
the staff of the New York Historical Society, who could not be 
more willing to do if I was their rich uncle and a bachelor. 

Our story will begin at the eastern end of the island and 
travel, as does the sun, toward the west, gathering as it goes 
all sorts of stray items from folks and books and personal ex- 
perience. 




Across the seas of Wonderland 
To Martha's Isle we plodded, 
Forty singing seamen 
In an old, black barcjue. 
And we landed in the twilight 
Where a polyphemus nodded, 
With his burnished fire-eye winking 
Red and yellow through the dark — 
Now a red flash, then three yellow. 
When it's thick, the fog horn's bellow 
Booms across the restless water 
To save the venturing crew from slaugh- 
ter; 
To save all singing seamen from the 
cruel rocks that slaughter. 

[With apologies to Mr. Alfred Noyes, 
the early explorers and the Gay 
Head Light.] 



EARLY VOYAGES AND FIRST OWNERS. 

IN FIFTEEN TWENTY-FOUR. 
It is difficult to go back in imagination to the loneliness of 
the time when our Summer Isle only knew the barbarism o£ 
the red man and his lack of enterprise, but there was such a 
time, though the barbarism seems to have been of a pleasant 
kind, for the early explorers, before they had taught the native 
to distrust them, appear to have met with nothing but hospi- 
tality along this coast. Verrazano, sailing these waters in 1524, 
may have landed here — some think he did, but more believe 
his description fits Block Island rather better than it does the 
Vineyard. Wherever he landed, however, his treatment by the 
Indians was much to his liking, at least until after he rounded 
Cape Cod. And Mr. John Brereton, who wrote a "relation" of 
Captain Gosnold's visit in these waters, referring to the abo- 
rigines, speaks particularly of their "quick eied and steadfast" 
looks, "fearlesse of others harmes, as intending none them- 
selves", they being "exceeding courteous, gentle of disposition 

and well conditioned". 

CAPTAIN GOSNOLD. 

Next of record comes Captain Gosnold in May, 1602, who 
was the author of the present name of the island, as he was of 
Cape Cod, though he applied it to that dash of solitude out in 
the Atlantic known to us as No Man's Land, the name then 
being spelled Marthae's Vineyard, according to "Purchas his 
Pilgrimes", which may have been a compliment to one of the 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



gentlemen accompanying the explorer. The name is so spelled 
both by Gabriel Archer and by 
John Brereton in their relations 
of the voyage. Gosnold, coming 
from the north, appears to have 
coasted outside of Nantucket and the 
Vmeyard, and possibly at that time 
supposed them part of the mainland, 
though "The Relation of Captaine 
Gosnol's Voyage delivered by Ga- 
briel Archer, a Gentleman in the 
said Voyage" speaks of doubling 
"the Cape of another Hand", refer- 
ring to the present Martha's Vine- 
yard. 




" One of the stateliest souuds that 
ever I was in".— Gabriel Archer. 




That part of Chappaciuiddic Island which Martin 

Pring is supposed to liave named 

Mount Aldwortli. 



MARTIN PRING. 

In April, 1603, Mar- 
tin Pring (or Prynne) 
was sent out by Bris- 
tol merchants with two 
small vessels for sassa- 
fras, v/hich had acquir- 
ed a high value for its 
supposed medicinal 
virtues. He coasted 
fromi Maine to the 
Vineyard, and entered 
Edgartown harbor, 
calling it Whitson Bay, 
and anchored under 



' EARLY VOYAGES AND-PIRST OWNERS. 



the shelter of Chappaquiddic Neck, which he called Mount 
Aldworth, at least so it is claimed, though some think he went 
no further south than Plymouth harbor. The Katama woods 
were long famed for their large supply of sassafras, and Pring 
could have secured his supply here as readily as elsewhere. 
For years the island was called Martin's Vineyard, the supposi- 
tion being that Martin Pring named it after himself. 

GOLD ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD! 
In 1611 Captain Harlow, an Englishman, visited the Vine- 
yard and took away with him one or more Indians, one of 
whom, Epenow, was the cause of the next visit, so far as the 
records tell, in 1614. At this time Sir Ferdinando Gorges, head 
of the Plymouth company, was brought in contact with Epe- 
now, in London, by Captain Harlow. The Indian told Gorges 
that there was gold on Martha's Vineyard and he, in connec- 
tion with the Earl of Southampton, fitted out an expedition, as 
in later days the Vineyard itself fitted out more than one expe- 
dition, lured by the gold- 
en hopes of California. 
Iron pyri tes, "fools' gold", 
is found at Gay Head, and 
it is possible that the In- 
dian was sincere in his 
statement ; it is, however, 
also possible that he 
wished to get home, and 
having learned the white 
man's weak spot, took 
this means to accomplish 

The mystery of the uuknowu. ^ 




4 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

it. The ship was put in the command of Captain Hobson, "a 
grave gentleman", who in due course reached the place where 
Epenow was "to make good his undertaking". No sooner was 
the anchor down than the island Indians came on board, where 
they were entertained. Epenow seems to have improved the 
occasion to arrange with his friends for escape, it being decided 
that when next the Indians returned he was to jump overboard 
and swim for it, while those in the canoes "manifested them- 
selves with arrows, like enemies", as was once said of certain 
other savages. The English were suspicious of their Indian 
friend, and not only kept a close watch on him, but clothed him 
in flowing garments that would impede his swimming. When 
the time came he took to the water in spite of all obstacles, and 
the crew foolishly opened fire; this the Indians promptly an- 
swered by a shower of arrows, wounding the Captain and many 
of his men. Epenow escaped and the expedition came to naught, 
commenting on which Sir Ferdinando remarks: "Thus were 
my hopes of that particular mode voide and frustrate." 

Gold was the lodestone always. While the explorer was 
collecting sassafras or furs, or any other commodity that could 
be turned into gold on the other side of the water, he was ever 
inquiring for the precious metal. The Gabriel Archer, men- 
tioned above, states that "these Indians call Gold Wassador, 
which argueth there is thereof in the country". But the fact is, 
we of to-day are after it in just as hearty fashion as were our 
forefathers three hundred years ago, and probably three hun- 
dred years hence there will be the same scrabble, and in the 
same direction. 

OTHER EXPEDITIONS. 
From this time on the island was visited by gold seekers 



EARLY VOYAGES AND"FIRST OWNERS. 



and explorers, who made small mention of what they found. 
Among others was Capt. Thomas Dermer, i6ig, but the Indians 
supposedly thought him on a man-stealing expedition, and 
drove him off with numerous wounds. It is of this or some 
other like experience that we have a legend which, while there 
is no written record thereof, comes so very straight from those 
days of little recorded history that it seems worth while to 
make mention of it. A very old Indian squaw told the story, 
which she had from her mother (a girl at the time of the hap- 
pening) to Aunt Rhoda Luce, who died aged ninety years, and 
she to Dr. Moses Brown, and he to my informant, so that it 
comes to us through only five generations, though the incident 

must have occurred at least 
two hundred and seventy-five 
years ago. The story is that a 
vessel came into Vineyard Ha- 
ven harbor, and in seeking for 
water passed through into the 
Lagoon and to its head, where 
a beautiful spring was found, 
the present source of the Oak 
Bluffs water supply. While 
the casks were being filled the 
Indians suddenly made a fierce 
attack, killing one man. They 
were finally frightened away 
by the discharge of a cannon 
from the vessel's stern, which 
sent them promptly to cover. Apparently this was a first ex- 
perience of these Indians with firearms of such calibre, and it 




A vessel came into Vineyard Haven 
Harbor. 



6 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

evidently made a deep impression. Aunt Rhoda, in telling the 
story, used to conclude with an Indian sentence which, trans- 
lated into the Vineyard vernacular by her, was: "The white- 
winged angel lets big noises." 

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT. 

The first settlement by white men was, according to tradi- 
tion, about 1632, when four men — Norton, Vincent, Pease and 
Trapp — and possibly others, are said to have wintered in 
roughly built stone houses in the side of Green Hollow, a little 
south of the oldest burial ground in Edgartown. Mr. Richard 
L. Pease has written that "this tradition has come to us 
through well-known sources". The usual story explaining this 
settlement is that a ship bound for Virginia put in here through 
stress of weather, and rather than longer face the Winter's 
storms, part of the company at least concluded to remain and 
continue their journey in the Spring, but finding the Winter 
climate pleasant and all manner of fish abundant, they decided 
to remain permanently. 

THOMAS MAYHEW PURCHASES MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

In 1635 the Plymouth Company conveyed to William, Earl 
of Stirling, a certain part of the New World which included 
Martha's Vineyard. In 1637 the Earl of Stirling appointed 
James Forrett his agent for disposing of the islands between 
Cape Cod and the Hudson River, and in 1641, some twenty 
years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the latter 
sold for $200 the island of Nantucket with several small adja- 
cent islands to Thomas Mayhew of Watertown, Mass., and by a 
subsequent agreement he conveyed to Mayhew Martha's Vine- 
yard and the Elizabeth Islands. These islands being also 
claimed under the grant of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, Thomas 



EARLY VOYAGES AND" FIRST OWNERS. 7 

Mayhew obtained of Richard Vines, agent of Gorges, a convey- 
ance of the property. Forrett was superseded by Andries For- 
rester, who agreed to confirm the transfer, but while in New 
Amsterdam he was arrested by the Dutch, sent to Holland, and 
never returned. 

The Commissioners of the United Colonies decided in 1644 
that this island came within the jurisdiction of Massachusetts 
Bay, and it was recognized as a part of that province for ten 
years, but in 1654 the island was voted to be not within the 
limits of the province of Massachusetts Bay, and until trans- 
ferred to the Duke of York, it appears to have been a law unto 
itself. About this time the name first appears spelled as at 
present, the island previously being known as Martin's Vine- 
yard. 

In 1663 the Earl of Clarendon, on behalf of James, Duke of 
York, purchased from the Earl of Stirling his American grant, 
and in 1664 received from Charles II. all that part of the main 
land of New England, etc., including "those several Islands 
called or known by the names of Martha's Vineyard and Nan- 

tukes". 

THOMAS MAYHEW APPOINTED GOVERNOR. 

When New Amsterdam became New York, the first Eng- 
lish governor, Lovelace, sent an order to those holding under 
the Stirling title to take out new papers under the Duke of 
York. Then it was that Thomas Mayhew was appointed gov- 
ernor of Martha's Vineyard for life. 

COUNTY OF DUKES COUNTY. 

November i, 1683, the Mayhew holdings were erected into 
the "County of Dukes County". In 1695 the county was rein- 
corporated and Nantucket eliminated. 



8 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

On the succession of William and Mary to the throne of 
England, New England was granted a new charter in which 
Nantucket was expressly declared a part of Massachusetts, but 
the language of the charter was not explicit in regard to the 
ownership of Martha's Vineyard, and this led to some dispute 
between New York and Massachusetts. 

INDIAN NAME OF THE ISLAND. 

The true Indian name of the island was No-pe and no other, 
though many have claimed that it was also called Capawock. 
Dr. Banks states that in spite of the fact that the charter of 
1692 spoke of the island as "Martha's Vineyard alias Capo- 
wick", this was an error, and that that designation applied only 
to Cape Poge, which latter is the final result of the various 
spellings, as Capoak and Capoag. 

From now on it will be possible to individualize, and facts 
and legends will, so far as possible, be grouped under the vari- 
ous towns in which they belong. 




EDGARTO-WN. 



EDGARTOWN. 




Tower Hill auil a l)it of the iuiier harbor 



THE NAMING OF EDGARTOWN. 
It is claimed that 
this is the Whitson 
Bay of Martin Pring, 
but the name did not 
stick, and from the 
time of the first set- 
tlement it was the 
"Towne uppon the 
Vineyard", or Great 
Harbor, and so until 
the time when Thos. 
Mayhew was called 
to New York to re- 
ceive title from the 
No one had ever been 



new lord of the land, the Duke of York, 
able to solve the mystery of the name Edgartown, whence it 
came or why, until Dr. Charles E. Banks stepped mto the 
breach and gave an explanation which is so well supported by 
probability that it has been readily accepted as f^nal. 

This is the Doctor's theory: When this was the only 
"Towne uppon the Vineyard" it was known as such, but as 
settlements multiplied and such general appellation was no 



10 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



longer locative, our 
village was "Great 
Harbor", as the "up- 
island" village was 
Middletown. But in 
1 67 1, when Mayhew 
came back from his in- 
t e r V i e w with the 
Duke's representative, 
Governor Lovelace, 
the place was officially 
designated Edgar 
Town. Where did the 
name come from? There is no other Edgartown on the face of 
the earth after which it might be named, nor was there any 
great man of that name and time. The conference in New 
York was an amicable one, the elder Mayhew was commis- 
sioned as governor of Martha's Vineyard "dureing his naturall 
life", and patents of incorporation were issued for the two 
towns on the island, then known as Great Harbor and Middle- 
town. Tisbury was the name selected for the latter, possibly 




The liarlior li.uiit aiul the loiif 
tliereto. 



causeway that leads 




Wlieie the small boat riilcs at aiiclior. 



EDGARTOWN. 



11 



at the suggestion of Mayhew, it being his old home in England, 
and it may well be that he, wishing to compliment Lovelace, 
suggested that the latter name the older settlement, and what 
more natural than that the courtier select the name of his mas- 
ter's only surviving son and heir, Edgar, he being in line for 
the throne. The young Prince had died one month before his 
name was bestowed on the town, but those in New York prob- 
ably knew it not — he was but four years old at his death, and 
was naturally little known — but in the renaming of things, the 
Dutch having been only just driven out, every county in the 
province of New York was named after the Duke or some one 
of his possessions or kindred, hence Dukes County, and noth- 
ing is more natural than that the chief town in such a county 

should be named after the Duke's only 
son, 
THOS. MAYHEW— FATHER AND SON. 
The years of the Mayhew reign were 
years of peace, signalized chiefly by 
their work among the Indians. Thos. 
Mayhew, Jr., was a minister. In 1642 
the Indians resident on the island 
numbered about three thousand; the 
younger Mayhew almost immediately 
undertook to Christianize these sav- 
ages, and his success was unprece- 
dented. He sailed for England in No- 
vember, 1657, and was never heard of 
more. His father then took up the 
work that the son had left unfinished, 
Hiacoomes of Great Harbor was the first convert, and Mittark 




Mayhew family relics. Carved 
whale's tooth, and tongs for 
holding coal while light- 
ing iiipe. 



12 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

o£ Gay Head the second, and both in turn became Indian min- 
isters. 

"Yet, even that Indian's ear had heard 
The preaching of the Holy Word : 
Sanchekantacket's isle of sand 
Was once his father's hunting land. 
Where zealous Hiacoomes stood, — 
The wild apostle of the wood. 
Shook from his soul the fear of harm, 
And trampled on the Powwaw's charm ; 
Until the wizard's curses hung 
Suspended on his palsying tongue. 
And the fierce warrior grim and tall. 
Trembled before the forest Paul !" 

— J. G. Whittier in "Mog Megone". 

PETER FOLGER. 
When Reverend Thomas Mayhew left for England, the 
Indian work was put in charge of "an able, godly Englishman, 
named Peter Folger, employed in teaching the youth in read- 
ing, writing and the principles of religion by catechizing; being 
well learned likewise in the scripture and capable of helping 
them in religious matters". This Peter Folger was the father 
of Abiah who, marrying Josiah Franklin, became the mother 
of Benjamin Franklin. Coincidence ! The first steamer that 
ever entered Edgartown harbor was the Benjamin Franklin ! 

THE MAYHEWS AND THE MAYHEW HOUSE. 
The two Thomas Mayhews, the elder's grandson. Reverend 
John Mayhew, his great grandson. Reverend Experience May- 
hew, and his great-great-grandson. Reverend Zachariah May- 
hew, were all in turn pastors of Indian churches on the island 
— "The five missionary Mayhews". The old Mayhew house 



EDGARTOWN. 



13 



(1698?) on South Water 
Street is so noticeably old 
that the passerby cannot 
but pause before it. It was 
built by the Governor, and 
in the little room over the 
entrance he died some two 
hundred years ago, 93 years 
of age. With his last breath 
the Governor is quoted as 
saying, "I have lived by 
faith and have found God in 
His Son, and there I find 
Him now. Therefore if you 
would find the God, look for 
Him in His Son. There He 
is to be found and nowhere 
else". 

The interior of the house shows very few signs of alteration, 
the same little rooms and low ceilings as of yore, with numer- 
ous relics of the past. Somewhat north of the old house and 
near the street is the burial ground of the Mayhews, and here 
the Governor is believed to lie. No stone marks his last rest- 
ing place, it is said at his own request, but there are a few 
stones of early generations of the family still left. 

EDGARTOWN HARBOR. 

Edgartown harbor is so eminently safe and secure, and car- 
ries such good water that it is a popular spot with yachts and 
small craft. Once around the western point of Chappaquid- 
dick Island there is no wind that blows, short of the wildest 




The Governor Mayhew chair as it stands in 

the old house. The onlj' known relic of 

the Governor left on tlie island. 



14 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




A corner iu the Governor Mayliew house ; 

an old leather lire bucket, warming 

pan, and china eloset. 

it at once." 

Prof. Shaler says that 
this waterway was pre- 
sumably formed by the 
irregular whirling move- 
ment of waters that were 
discharged into the sea 
from a subglacial stream 
at a time when the base of 
the ice drift lay below the 
level of the ocean. For 
there was a time when 
this island was hundreds 



hurricane, that need cause the 
skipper to keep his weather eye 
out. In 1807 it was writ, "Old 
Town (Edgartown) harbour 
is safe and excellent, and is 
esteemed one of the best in the 
United States. It is so mxuch 
better than the harbour of 
Nantucket, that the whalemen 
of that island are obliged to 
come to this place, to take in 
their water, and to fit out their 
ships". In those days vessels 
were often detained here by 
adverse winds. "With a fair 
wind 200 sail, including many 
large vessels, sometimes leave 




A popular spot witli small craft. 



EDGARTOWN. 



IS 



JL 


m*^i ••■ ■ 





' Old Town liarljor is safe anil excellent." 



of feet under water. 
The character of the 
land about Edgartown 
and Chappaquiddick 
tends to confirm this 
theory, it being known 
to geologists as kame 
deposits, "sand and 
small pebbles arranged 
in distinct, crossbedded 
layers, showing that 
they were formed by 
the movement of swift currents, which currents were subject 
to frequent variations in direction and energy". This kame 
formation is found to a less extent on the western side of Seng- 
ekontacket Pond. 

KATAMA BAV. 
Edgartown har- 
bor widens out to 
Katama Bay, one 
arm of which is Mat- 
takessett Bay. Both 
contribute to the 
pleasure of the Sum- 
mer idler and the 
profit of the sturdy 
worker. The surface 
of these waters is a 
shimmer of irrides- 




Tlie pictiiresfine old wharves. 



16 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

cent coloring, where one can float in the very midst of the 
picture, and loaf his soul, as did the pcet in the Bay of Naples, 
who sings: — 

"Over the rail 
My hand I trail 

Within the shadow of the sail, 
A joy intense, 
The cooling sense 
Glides down my drowsy indolence." 

The worker finds under these waters quahaugs which are 
worth probably $40,000 a year in "new money" to the village. 
The beds of these hard-shell Baptists seem to be inexhaustible. 
And that reminds me that quahaug is a comparatively new 
word for these parts, for Dr. Freeman noted in 1807 that "The 
poquag called the quahaug in the county of Barnstable, is found 
in Old Town harbour. Cape Poge and in Menemsha Pond, 
great quantities are exported". Two thousand dollars worth 
of clams at $9.00 a barrel were sold in Edgartown in 1807. The 
Rev. Dr. Freeman visited the island in 1807 "to ascertain the 
spots proper for placing huts and other accommodations for 
shipwrecked mariners", and we shall have frequent occasion 
to quote him. 

THE LEGEND OF KATAMA AND MATTAKESSETT. 

Katama was a beautiful Indian maiden, even as are the 
young maidens of to-day whose sires have power or wealth. 
The chief of Wintucket, her father, seeking a proper alliance 
for his only child, betrothed her to a grumpy, old straight-hair, 
who was the chief of the proud Ahquampachas, and the girl 
consented, not that she loved the old man — her heart had never 
been stirred and she knew not what love was. 



EDGARTO-WN. 



17 




As in later days great stores 
of linen were spun and woven 
for the bride to be, so the In- 
dians wove grass mats in an- 
ticipation of the new wigwam, 
and Katama, seeking for the 
finest and most beautiful gras- 
ses, wandered in her canoe as 
far as Quanomiqua, where 
they grew, and here for the 
first time her heart was set a- 
throbbing and the scales fell 
from her eyes. Mattakessett, 
the young and handsome chief 
of the tribe that planted the 
Great Plain, had also come to 
Quanomiqua to hunt — not for 
grasses, however, nor yet for love — but, peering from the 
covert over the marshy waste, his heart was smitten as with 
the arrow of fate as he saw the fair vision pushing her canoe 
among the rushes, and there on the shores of the beautiful 
waters love came to both. 

The maiden, knowing well her father, said nothing of her 
new found joy, but met her lover in secret, drifting along 
without a thought of the future, and so the happy days ended 
all too quickly. Now the time came when the Wintucket tribe 
conspired with other tribes to rob the maize fields of Matta- 
kessett, and appointed a night when they were to surround 
the fields on all sides Hke a snare. Some passed down the 
Great Sands, South Beach, others by Shockamoksett and Me- 



'I heed not if 
My lippliiig skirt' 
Float swift or slow from clirt' to clitt— " 



18 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

shacket. Katama, knowing but one duty, hastened to bear the 
news of the invasion to Mattakessett, and he and his people 
prepared to meet the invaders. 

The band of robbers, unsuspicious of the trap laid for them, 
lost many a brave by a sudden and unexpected onslaught where 
they thought to Rnd nothing but fields of waving corn, but 
Mattakessett's line was too thin and the opposing foe too 
numerous, and though at first driven back, they rallied and, 
pressing in from all sides, Mattakessett soon found himself sur- 
rounded, where to fight longer were madness, and making his 
way to his lodge he took Katama in his arms and fled to the 
bay. The poet Alfred Noyes so nearly describes the ending of 
the legend in his "Silk O' the Kine" that his words are here 
quoted : — 

"Then Sorch the Singer came to the King as he stared in empty 

amaze 
And said, 'Oh King, as I watched the sun break through the 

first gold haze, 
I saw those lovers pass to the shore, hand in clasping hand; 
And they cast their raiment from them there on the golden 

sand; 
And they waded up to their golden knees in the clear green 

waves, and there, 

Clothed with the sun and the warm soft wind and Eilidh's 
golden hair, 

Isla broke his sword and watched it heavily shimmering down 

Through the lustrous emerald gleam to the sea-flower forests 
of dim deep brown. 

And they kissed each other, once, on the mouth, and then, as I 
stood in the heather, 

I saw them, Eilidh and Isla, they swam out in the sunlight to- 
gether : 



EDGARTOWN. 



19 



Out, far out, through the golden glory that dazzled the green 

of the bay : 
Two strong swimmers were they, oh King, that swam out in 

the sunlight together; 
Whether they went to life or death, two strong swimmers were 

they: 
Two strong swimmers were they.' " 

And thus came death to Katama and Mattakessett. 

It is fitting that their names should be preserved in the 

waters that sheltered them from their enemies, while the name 

of the girl's tribe now stands for the father of Edgartown's 

waters — Wintucket Cove. 

SOUTH BEACH. 

And now we come to the 
"Great Sands", South Beach, 
where the mighty Atlantic 
knocks unceasingly. At times 
the roar of his angry knocking 
is carried to the farthest ex- 
tremity of the island, which 
shakes and trembles, but the 
door, while sometimes splin- 
tered, never opens. This is one 
of the spots that is seldom free from visitors in the season, 
when they are like the sands for multitude. Here the dreamer 
can sit and watch the steady roll and smash, or listen to the 
sigh of the waves when they are gentle, with the rattle and 
crash of the shingle as it is sucked back by the undertow. 
There is little to find on this beach in the way of shells, and 
one spot on its long, straight, sandy line is as good as another 
for watching the onslaught, and no better way can an hour be 




A bit of the South Beach as the visitor 
liopes to timl it. 



20 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



spent than by sitting in the solitude of the sands and watching 
until it all seems a vision, 

THE MATTAKESSETT HERRING FISHERY. 
On the way to and 
from the beach the 
traveler must cross a 
creek that is so straight 
as to suggest the cor- 
recting hand of man. 
This is the herring 
creek which connects 
the fresh waters of Ed- 
gartown Great Pond 
with the brine of Mat- 
takessett Bay, and here 
in the season the her- 
ring crowd to their own 
destruction. If the her- 
ring but knew his im- 
portance it might be 
that he would utterly 
refuse to travel such an 
unmitigated ditch as is 

1 J p !_• J T Swaying up tlie foresail. 

here dug for him, and it 

he but knew that on the main his dried carcass was once known 
as "Old Town turkey", his head would be swelled out of all 
proportion to this little string of water. 

Not all the inhabitants, however, believe in this form of 
industry. It seems that the farmers whose lands border the 




EDCAF^TtDWN. 21 

Great Pond, and are frequently overflowed by its high water, 
preier an outlet across the beach direct to the salt sea that will 
keep the Pond drained to a level below their pastures. This 
of course makes the herring creek useless and starts a feud that 
only the courts can settle, for here the herring fishery is private 
property, made so by an old grant from the State. 

The Edgartown world awoke one morning to find that such 
a canal had been dug, and the fishery proprietors were left with 
a dry and useless ditch to contemplate. These immediately set 
out to secure evidence on which to convict, and soon hit on a 
boy who was frightened into a confession, whereupon damage 
suits were started. The farmers employed Ben Butler to de- 
fend them, and he proceeded to show the court that the original 
grant applied to land that was probably, by this time, a half 
mile out at sea, to so great an extent has the sand given way 
to the wash of the currents, and that consequently the rights of 
the proprietors had not been, because they could not be, in- 
vaded, and on top of this the boy who was the chief witness so 
completely lost his memory on the stand that the prosecution 
had not a leg to stand on and the embattled farmers won the 
day. 




Edgartowii's docking facilities. 



22 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



THE OLD BURYING GROUND. 
Beyond Tower Hill lies the old "God's Acre", containing 
many stones dating back two hundred years and more, with 
many a quaint epitaph to reward the searcher. Here was buried 
Joseph Chase, son of that Lieutenant Isaac Chase who was one 
of the first settlers of Holmes Hole. And it was in this neigh- 
borhood that the settlers of 1632 fixed their dwellings. 




Here lies buried ye boil 

ROBERT STONE, SeNK. 

A.ued 65 years 

dei)arted tliis life 

12 (lay ot March, 1689. 

is in place of the oldest 

ne on Martha's Vineyard 

by Joseph Dunham 1863 

The old stone lies here de 

Sixty rods southeast from 

grave may be seen the ruins of 

the cellar of the House of the Hist white 

settlers who came to the Island 
1630. 



CHAPPAQUIDDICK. 

Chappaquiddick is an alm.ost unknown country to the Sum- 
mer visitor. A ferry takes one across to the shore, where is 
Edgartown's bathing beach, and if the traveler is so minded he 



EDGARTOWN. 



23 



can mount to the top of Sampson's Hill and take a look over 
Nantucket way. Before electricity was doing our long-dis- 
tance talking for us a semaphore stood on the crown of this hill, 
whose long arms signaled whaling news to Nantucket in one 
direction and to East Chop in the other. The code was of ne- 
cessity very simple, being intended for but the one purpose, 
and occasionally the operator was put to it to know how to 
convey an odd piece of news. For instance, he was once com- 
pelled to signal that a certain whaler had arrived with "three 
barrels of smallpox" on board, and hope that the Nantucketers 
would figure out that he meant cases. 



J^^s^ I 



-^"^^ 



r 



ft! 



V^ 





Koaa to tlie steamboat wharf. Ou the left the oUl '■candle house- of wlialiiiK .lays. 

AN INCIDENT OF CAPE POGE 
If one is so minded he can follow the almost straight road 
to the beach and in due time pass along the sands to the far 
point known as Cape Poge, where stands the lighthouse. But 
for the difference between sand and rock, it might well have 
been of Cape Poge that Longfellow wrote :— 

"The rocky ledge runs far into the sea, 

And on its outer point, some miles away. 

The Lighthouse lifts its massive masonry, 
A pillar of fire by night of cloud by day." 



24 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

Here fifty years or so ago — or, to be more exact, in the 
year 1856 — lived a family of Smiths, to whom a visitor was a 
streak of rare good fortune, and particularly so was it to the 
lesser Smiths, as playmates were scarce indeed. Now, upon a 
time there came among them a little girl whom we will call 
Carrie, as such was her name, a daughter of the Cross Rip 
lightship and a great favorite with all, though something ven- 
turesome, for during a game of hide-and-seek she took it into 
her small head to push out from shore in the family boat, the 
only one for miles around, a thing that the children had been 
cautioned many times not to do. 

Immediately was there great excitement. Father was down 
on Chappaquiddick, four miles away; mother was called from 
her dinner preparations, and she promptly plunged into the 
water, but the currents had set the boat out of reach. The one 
heavy oar in the boat was lost overboard by the child on her 
first attempt to use it, and things were by now looking like a 
tragedy. Finally the small boy set off on a run for father, but 
ten-year-old legs are not very long, and four miles was a weary 
distance. The boat drifted out and out, being soon lost to the 
sight of those on the beach, and only mother up in the tower, 
with the strong glass, could keep track of the little one bobbing 
up and down among the waves. 

They were long moments and anxious ones, but the young 
lungs were sound, and at last a dusty boy rushed in on the two 
fathers, as it happened, and managed to pant out the story. 
The fathers were soon in a boat and pulling for the open sea 
for, knowing the wind and the currents, they had no need to 
be told the direction, and one can imagine the sigh of relief that 
went up from the lighthouse as the glass picked up the two 



EDGARTOWN. 25 

Strong men pulling for the life fast going out on the ebbing tide. 

That is all of the story. The rescue and home coming were 
mere m.atters of detail to men used to the sea, and even if the 
dinner was burned to a crisp, what of that? Were not all safe 
and sound once more, though father cried like a child when 
he stepped on shore again. 

Chappaquiddick furnishes the only simon-pure brimstone 
legend that the island has produced, so far as my knowledge 
of the subject goes, and I have asked some questions. Here it 
is: — 

THE BLUE ROCK OF CHAPPAQUIDDICK. 

On a dark and stormy night an unknown vessel dropped 
anchor in the surf, which is forever beating at the foot of 
Wasque Bluff, where "the sea rolls like moving mountains on 
the shore, and the surf breaks in a terrible manner", and a 
mysterious personage landed in a small boat with a strong box 
and six sturdy ruffians, who trooped inland to where stood a 
lone bluish-colored rock. Here a deep hole was dug and the 
chest placed therein. Then the sailors stepped back and stood 
with bowed, uncovered heads while the stranger drew from his 
bosom a small green package which, with a muttered invoca- 
tion to the father of pirates, he threw on the box, when in- 
stantly with crash and roar a blinding, lurid flame of pale green 
shot out of the hole, and for a moment lit up all the country 
round. The blackness of the stormy night succeeded, and when 
the sailors recovered from their confusion and prepared to fill 
the hole, io ! no hole was there ; only the scorched and black- 
ened earth. Then the little procession silently filed off into 
the gloom, returning whence it came, not a sound having been 
uttered from the time the boat's keel first grated on the sands. 



26 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

The lone spectator of this frightful scene, the only white man 
on the island, arose from his hiding place in the grass and fled, 
but he handed the story of that night's horrid work down to 
later generations, who have sought for the treasure in vain. 

The experiences of such of the treasure seekers as have 
dared to tell them have been quite as terrible as were those of 
the peeping Tom who saw the pirates bury their gold. Two 
such adventurers agreed to meet one night at the rock, the 
hour being that when "the ghost from the tomb affrighted shall 
come, cal'd out by the clap of the thunder". The first to arrive 
leaned up against the great stone and, being tired with his 
tramp, was fast falling to sleep, when a noise came to him from 
off the waters (for the haunted spot is close by the shore of 
Cape Poge Pond) and, opening wide his eyes in astonishment, 
he saw "a great big old ship", with all sails set, standing 
straight in toward the rock. No man was at the wheel, nor a 
soul in sight, yet she dodged the shoals and shallows like some 
old fisherman, and just as she must have grounded, down came 
every sail, and the vessel drifted gently in until her keel touched 
lightly on the sandy shore. 

Then a mysterious plank ran out of itself and, with a horri- 
ble yell, the hatch was thrown off, and on the instant the deck 
was swarming with skeletons. " 'Twas an all-fired dark night, 
but it seemed as if them critters carried their light with them, 
for I could see 'em plain enough", says the treasure hunter. 
Now they come filing down the plank, bearing a dead body, 
and begin to dig, but the earth seemed to come up of itself, for 
almost instantly there was a deep hole and the spades were 
striking something that gave back the ring of metal, which a 
peep showed was a big iron pot with lid half off, and filled to 



EDGARTOWN. 27 

the brim with gold and silver. On top of this the corpse is 
tumbled and the hole is being filled when, for the first time the 
skeletons catch sight of the intruding human, who has been 
scared so stiff tnat he could not run, and they came for him "as 
thick as bees", grabbing him with intent to put him in the hole 
to keep company with the corpse. But if his legs would not 
work his lungs would, and he gave such a ghastly screech that 
even the ghosts were frightened and dropped him so that his 
head fell with a bang against the rock. When he "ris to his 
feet" not a phantom was in sight, the ship was gone and all 
signs of digging obliterated. Our adventurer had had enough, 
however, and when his companion arrived all was dark and 
lonely. The deserted one, however, was not the kind to take 
such treatment quietly, and when next the two met he gave his 
terrified friend such a drubbing that in order to justify hisi 
run away he was compelled to tell his experiences, and so the 
facts, which would otherwise have been lost, have been pre- 
served for posterity. 

Others have tried, and even reached the pot, but always is 
there a horrible flash and a cave in, shadowy forms of threat- 
ening aspect and the blackness of darkness, with the hole lev- 
eled and no sign of digging to show for the night's labor. 
Some there be who claim that a stranger whose heel prints 
showed a curious cleft did secure the pot, and transported it 
and himself to unknown parts on a mysterious vessel that had 
been hovering on the horizon for days, and it may be so, for 
recent digging fails to cause any unusual disturbance, except 
possibly in the backs and muscles of the diggers. 

EARLY INDUSTRIES. 

One hundred years ago there were four windmills for grind- 



28 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




ing corn in Edgartown, one of them on Chappaquiddick, but 
the great industry of the island at that time would appear to 
have been the knitting of stockings, of which about 15,000 pair 
were knit per year 
by the women. S o 
much was knitting in 
vogue that it used to 
be said that those 
rounding Cape Poge 
could hear the click 
of the knitting nee- 
dles before the lights 
of Edgartown hove 
in sight. Of mittens 
3,000 pair per year 
v^^ a s the average, 
while of wigs for seamen (whatever they were), 600 were 
added to the annual output. "The people, and particularly the 
women are remarkable for their industry", says Dr. Freeman. 
In Edgartown were also three sets of salt works, for which 
the codfish was no doubt largely responsible. 

REVOLUTIONARY NOTES. 
Quiet times are prosaic times and, while preferable to live 
in, are apt to be uninteresting to dwell upon in detail, and now 
from Indians and treasure seekers we will turn our faces toward 
war and the days of the Revolution. Not so many stories of 
that period have to do with this part of the Island as with 
Holmes Hole and the North Shore, they having been rather 
more in the track of the marauder, but Edgartown thought it 
had all the trouble it needed. 



Tlie " Four Corners". Where the Maiu is crossed 
by Water Street. 



EDGARTOWN. 29 

At the time of Gray's raid one of his frigates lay off this 
village, which was compelled to furnish its share of plunder for 
the enemy, as the following verses from the Gazette, written 
by a descendant of "grandmother" testify, and while they have 
been published before, they are good enough to print once 
more : — 

GRANDMOTHER'S COURAGE; A TRUE STORY OF '76. 

BY L. P. SELOVER. 

In the Fall of seventeen seventy eight. 

When we were at war with Britain great. 

The Tisbury folks one morning bright 

Looked out on a scene that unnerved them quite. 

For anchored sure in her waters blue 

Of British warships lay eighty-two. 

A brave three hundred had marched away 

To help to conquer the foe at bay, 

And those who stayed to till the soil 

Were left no arms their foes to foil. 

And then the wisest held their breath : 

Had they come for plunder, or battle and death? 

Ten thousand sheep they drove to the shore, 
Of cattle three hundred head and more; 
Their fields are swept of the new-mown hay 
By thousands of Britains under Gray, 
And from their homes on baking day 
They took their puddings and pies away. 

In a low, green valley, three leagues away, 
Just overlooking Katama Bay, 
There stood the home of a soldier brave, 
Who had marched away his country to save, 



30 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

And left his wife to bake and brew 
And most of the farming work to do. 

Her flaxseed she sowed for her linen web, 
And combed and spun and wove it, 'tis said ; 
While wool was carded the patient reel 
Stood waiting the work of the spinning wheel. 
Then looms were set and the web was made, 
The garments were cut and stitches laid. 
And Matty was often heard to say 
She spun, wove and made the suit of gray 
That her husband wore when he went out 
To help to put the Britishers to rout. 

She was singing one morn the harvest home 

When, looking out on the soft, green loam, 

She saw in front of her open door 

A band of Red Coats on the shore. 

They wandered 'round through barn and field, 

And took the most of her precious yield ; 

But two good cows were feeding still 

In the pasture behind a hiding hill. 

Soon came the British and asked for meat, 

And Matty brought it with nimble feet. 

And left them greedily taking their fill 

For the pasture land behind the hill. 

Little she recked that her head was bare 

And the wind made sport with her loosened hair 

As she bounded across the acres wide 

To the spot where Molly, her pet, was tied; 

And as she sped across the wold, 

Repeated the law as she had been told: 

"A barrel of beef and a single cow 

Is what the laws of the land allow, 



EDGARTOWN. 31 

And I have two, so one must go !" 
Then she swung her axe in one fierce blow, 
And one of her cows was lying dead 
On the grass, where a moment before it fed. 
One soldier missed our Matty's face. 
And hastened to find her hiding place, 
When he saw the beast upon the ground 
And knew the work of a fresh made wound. 
Here Matty had dropped her axe, and now 
Was standing beside her living cow, 
And face to face with a bitter foe 
She spoke her full heart's overflow: 

"You have taken my fowls and oxen, and then 

The sheep from the fold and the pigs from the pen. 

The corn f roin the crib and the hay from the mow ; 

But you shall, not take my only cow ! 

'Tis all I have, for the one at your feet, 

I've killed her to furnish my barrel of meat." 

'Round Molly's neck her arm she placed 

And her dark eyes flashed in the soldier's face. 

He drew his sword and, "Curse you" he said, 

As he held it high above her head. , 

"I bid you quickly release your hold. 

Or share the fate of the smitten fold !" 

Only an instant she held her breath 

At the shining blade, 'twixt her and death: 

"You have met the foe in equal strife 

Where swords were clashing — life for life — 

And now on defenseless woman's head 

The fierceness of your wrath you'd shed. 

I stand undaunted, my child is near. 

Would you take my life were your mother here?" 

And just then tripping across the green. 

Came a lovely maiden of seventeen. 



32 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

The soldier looked in her earnest face, 

And back the sword went to its place, 

Saying "I, who've stood storming of shot and shell. 

Now quail before a Vineyard belle. 

You're the pluckiest woman I've ever met; 

No harm shall come to you or your pet." 

And soon he was marching across the Plain 

With a kettle of brown bread from Matty's crane, 

While Matty was having a little talk 

About the dear new-fashioned clock. 

"I do just hate to disturb it", she said; 
"But I must have those weights of lead!" 
And replacing with iron spikes their weight 
She soon consigned them to their fate. 
Saying, "Little I thought, at fifty years 
I'd be running bullets for musketeers !" 

Then working as with a purpose true, 

She conquered, as was her wont to do ; 

And soon the bullets were on their way 

To General Wolfe, across the Bay. 

When word came back: "They'll be sure to hit 

When mixed with such metal as Matty's grit !" 

This is the story as told to me. 

When the British were here by land and sea. 

Of Grandmother's courage at threatened fate 

In the Fall of seventeen seventy eight. 

A SCRAP OF MARCHANT FAMILY HISTORY. 
Grandmother was Matilda Dunham, and Miss Seventeen- 
year-old was Matilda II., an only child. She married John 
Marchant, a private in the Revolutionary ranks and a lieutenant 
in the War cf 1812. He was taken prisoner at Newport, and 



EDGARTOWN. 



33 



again at Sierra Leone whither he sailed in the privateer 
"Rambler". The vessel never returned. 

A man was taken from a vessel in Edgartown harbor and 
imprisoned for some offense. While in jail he asked to see a 
member of the Marchant family, and Seth, the youngest son of 
John, above, called on him and was told the following story: 
"I am from Sierra Leone and can tell you the particulars of 
your father's imprisonment and death. He made a miniature 
sawmill for pastime; the officials saw it and told him if he 
would construct one that would saw logs they would give him 
$200 and his liberty. The mill was completed and proved, they 
gave a party in his honor, and when the wine was poured Mr. 
Marchant's was poisoned and he died before morning." This 
interesting bit of information comes from the author of the 
poem. 

MORE NOTES OF 'SEVENTY-SIX. 

During the Revo- 
lution Edgartown is 
said to have had an 
appropriation for 
building a fort, but 
no one seems to 
know about it, and 
it is probable that no 
fort was built. 

The following, 
copied from the Acts 
and Laws of the 
Commonwealth of 

Massachusetts of Wliere tliiiifis come m liot ott t lie .;;riilill. 




34 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

1784 and 1785 needs no explanatory note: "J^n. 31, 1785. Re- 
solved '■' '•' "■' excepting such sum of money as was taken 
from the collector of the town of Edgartown by the British 
troops, being part of the monies collected to pay their public 
taxes for 1777." 

OF THE WAR OF EIGHTEEN TWELVE. 

Of the War of 1812 I have but one incident connected with 
the name of Edgartown. The inhabitants were, of course, al- 
ways on the alert, as they were liable to a raid at any minute 
from British war vessels patrolling the coast, and usually the 
family plate and valuables were buried outside of the house or 
in the cellar. Many houses were provided with hiding places 
in the chimney or under the hearthstone, but the soldiers were 
apt to pry into such places, and the sand was generally re- 
garded as the safest bank. 

Capt. Robert Swazie lived on the bluff, facing the water, 
where now runs South Water Street, and his valuables had 
been carefully buried near a side door, in a spot that would 
about come in the middle of the present street and, say, fifty 
feet south of the Home Club. Notice of an intended raid had 
been received and the Captain was caught with a schooner in 
the harbor, a trap from which he could only run into the jaws 
of the Lion and so he did the next best thing by taking his 
vessel down through Katama Bay and hiding it behind the 
trees of Quahaug Point. Here, with her topmasts housed, she 
was completely concealed. 

In the meantime the soldiers had landed from the man-o'- 
war, possibly the Nimrod which was the chief scourge of these 
waters, and in small bands were marauding through the vil- 
lage, as was their custom, and the Captain was not at home to 



EDGARTOAVN. 35 

protect his house ; but Mrs. Swazie had wit enough and to 
spare for the outmanoeuvering of the pillagers. These, know- 
ing the trust placed in Mother Earth, were in the habit of idly 
prodding the old lady's bosom with their bayonets as they 
went along, just on general principles — no harm to them could 
come of it and much good might. As they neared the dwelling 
Mrs. Swazie, who had her eye out, fearing lest some stray bay- 
onet might strike the hidden hoard, determined to try a little 
game of diplomacy and, even as Mrs. Murray entertained the 
British ofBcers while Washington's army was escaping across 
the island of Manhattan, she appeared at the door and invited 
all in for refreshments. Of course they came, and when the 
entertainment was over and they were ready to bid the hos- 
pitable lady good bye she kindly let them out of a door on the 
other side of the house from the buried treasure and sent them 
on their way rejoicing, while she rejoiced in her own way. 

But the Captain hardly fared as well, for the British tars, 
with an instinct that savored of foreknowledge, made straight 
down the bay for Quahaug Point and promptly found the 
schooner, which they as promptly burned. Now the ease with 
which they found him out convinced the Captain that some 
one among his neighbors had been playing the spy, but he was 
never quite sure who the villain was, and was fain to content 
himself with expatiating on how many kinds of things he would 
do to the culprit, should he ever have the opportunity. It is 
said that he was quite emphatic on the subject, but modesty 
or something else forbade the gentleman making himself 
known. 

WHALES AND WHALING. 

No account of Edgartown would be complete which left 



36 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



unsung praise of the 
whale and whaHng, the 
industry that made the 
place a busy and import- 
ant port, and yet it can 
be but lightly touched 
on in such brief space. 

This service made the 
American seaman the 
best in the world, and 
this was so well recog- 
nized that the great 
Burke paid him the fol- 
lowing compliment: — 

"No ocean but what is 
vexed with their fisher- 
ies; no climate that is 
not witness to their toils. 
Neither the persever- 
ance of Holland nor the 
activity of France nor 
the dextrous and firm 
sagacity of English en- 
terprise, ever carried this ^^'"■•^'*'" ^^"'^ ^* '''' ""''''■ 
perilous mode of hardy entei prise to the extent to which it 
has been pushed by this recent people — a people who are still, 
as it were, in the gristle, and not yet haidened into the bone of 
manhood." 

A COMPLIMENT TO VINEYARD MEN. 
Here is another compliment from the pen of Mr J. Hector 




EDGARTOWN. 37 

St. John in 1782 — this time paid direct to Vineyard sailormen. 
He observes no great amount of drunkenness and debauchery 
on the part of returned whalemen: "On the contrary all was 
peace here, and a general decency prevailed throughout; the 
reason I believe is, that almost everybody here is married, for 
they get wives very young; and the pleasure of returning to 
their families absorbs every other desire. The motives that 
lead them to the sea are very different from those of most 
other seafaring men. It is neither idleness nor profligacy that 
sends them to that element; it is a settled plan of life, a well- 
founded hope of earning a livelihood. '•■ =•' '■' 

"Here I found without gloom a decorum and reserve, so 
natural to them, that I thought myself in Philadelphia." It is 
"a Pennsylvania farmer" who is writing. 

"Never was a bee hive m.ore faithfully employed in gather- 
ing wax, bee-bread and honey from all the neighboring fields 
than are the members of this society. '■' '•' '•' 

"They were once nearly related; their different degrees of 
prosperity is what has caused the various shades of their com- 
munity. But this accidental difference has introduced, as yet, 
neither arrogance nor pride on the one part, nor meanness and 
servility on the other." And this holds as good to-day as it did 
125 years ago. On the Vineyard 

"A man's a man for a' that." 

EARLY DAYS. 

"A dead whale or a stove boat" was the popular song as 
the crew pulled away for the chase, and the spirit typified by 
the song ran through the entire business. At first whales were 
pursued in small boats from the shore, but by 1712 the fisher- 
men were building vessels "to whale out in the deep". The 



38 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



writer has heard somewhere of folks who whaled out in the 
woodshed, but that may have been for some wholly different 
purpose, and curiously enough, as we understand it, the more 
success the less joy or, as "Purchas his Pilgrimes" puts it, "the 




Whaler "Grayliound." Tli« la.-it wlialesliip to carry single toii-.sails. 

miserable, disastrous success thereof". By 1760 the great fish 
had become so scarce that shore whaling was abandoned. 
Between 1771 and 1775 the Vineyard had twelve vessels en- 
gaged in the industry, but so hard had been their luck that ten 
to fifteen years later the islanders gave up all pretense of own- 
ing vessels and turned to farming. In fact Hudson (N. Y.) 
was one of the results of this depression. It was settled in 



EDGART0WN. 39 

1783 by Edgartown, Nantucket, Providence and Newport 
whalers who desired a port that British highwaymen could not 

raid. 

The small vessels employed on short whaling voyages in 
the Atlantic were known as "plum-pudn'rs", but as time went 
on and the vessels increased in size, the voyages were extended 
to all parts of the watery world, and many are the stories of 
hardship and adventure handed down from father to son. The 
position of master of a whaler was one of honor and trust and 
great responsibihty ; his word was law, and where he willed 
he could go. The owners trusted him with limitless power; 
his draft in foreign ports bound every individual owner in the 
ship for the full amount of his disbursements, though these 
might easily absorb his all, and few were the cases where the 
confidence thus reposed was not justified. 

SOME EDGARTOWN WHALE SHIPS. 

The first recorded whaling voyage from Edgartown oc- 
curred in 1765, when the schooner "Lydia", Peter Pease, 
master, sailed to Davis Straits. 

In 1838 eighty masters of whale ships hailed from Edgar- 
town. 

In i860 the following whaling craft hailed from this port: 

Ships— "Almira", "Champion", "Europa", "Mary", "Navi- 
gator", "Ocmulgee", "Omega", "Richard Mitchell", "Splen- 
did", "Vineyard" and "Walter Scott"; barks— "American", 
"Ellen". "Eureka", "Louisa Sears" and "Rose Pool" ; schoon- 
ers— "E. A. Luce" and "Washington". 

In the appalling disaster in the Arctic in September, 1871, 
the Edgartown ships "Mary" and "Champion" were among 
those crushed by the ice. 



40 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

Edgartown has furnished the following five quartets of 
brothers who were whaleship masters: — 

Ariel, Gilbert, John N. and Philander Smith. 

Thomas H., Henry C, Jeremiah and Shubael Norton, 

David N., Benjamin, Tristram P. and William Ripley. 

Rufus F., Francis, Josiah C. and George Pease. 

John, Owen, Gamaliel and Charles W. Fisher. 

The industry reached its zenith about 1846, when Edgar- 
town had nineteen vessels engaged therein. The "Apollo" 
was the first whaleship owned in Edgartown ; she sailed July 
5, 1816, but proved to be a rotten old hulk, which was only 
kept alive by the constant use of a stomach pump. 

THE PROSPEROUS DAYS OF OIL. 

One who wrote much for the Gazette of his "Boyhood 
memories of Edgartown" naturally has considerable to say 
concerning the prosperous days of oil. Nearly all of the Nan- 
tucket whalers used to unload and fit out at the Edgartown 
wharves. Vineyard men were in great demand for captains, 
officers and crews, they being considered the best navigators 
and whalers in the world. In fact this was the port of that 
"fluke-tailed" island (Nantucket). 

In those days the New Bedford packet would signal good 
or bad news by flying a large ship's flag if she brought home 
the captain and crew of some returned whaler, or if the news 
was of disaster her flag was at half mast. Then was there an 
anxious hour for every family in the place as she slowly made 
her way into and up the harbor, for all had friends and rela- 
tives on the deep. 

Wharves were filled with long tiers of casks of oil, and on 
the fields were stored more casks, covered with bleaching sea 



EDGARTOWN. 



41 




weed, ships were coming in 
and ships were weighing an- 
chor, vessels were freighting 
oil to Nantucket and New 
Bedford, and a mob of re- 
turned sailors and green 
hands just starting on a first 
voyage was everywhere. The 
result was activity in every 
branch of business : The old 
bake house was in full blast, 
baking hardtack by the cask 
full, and the stores then were 
mostly below the "four cor- 
ners", hugging close to the 
harbor shore. 

THE SEAMY SIDE. 
There are a number of well-known disasters in which Ed- 
gartown men were interested, concerning one or two of which 
no more than the briefest mention can be made. On Septem- 
ber 25, 1852, the whale ship "Citizen", Capt. Thomas Howes 
Norton of Edgartown, master, was wrecked on the icy shores 
of the Arctic Ocean, and captain and crew lived for nine months 
with the natives, suffering the tortures of starvation and of 
freezing, until those who remained alive were reduced to the 
last extremity. 

The ship "Globe", commanded by Capt. Thomas Worth, 
son of the Mexican War hero, sailed from Edgartown in the 
twenties. In the Pacific the crew mutinied and killed the cap- 
tain and officers. 



How (littereut now from the busy days of 
whaling. 



42 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



FISH NOTES. 

During the Summer of 1852 553 swordfish were taken by 
Edgartown fishermen, and in March, 1853, ^ codfish weighing 
75 pounds was caught off the south side. 

In 1858, from May 28th to July ist, 137,753 pounds of fresh 
bluefish were sold by local fishermen to vessels from Con- 
necticut ; this did not take into account home consumption. 




NORTH WATER STREET. 

On North Water Street all the older houses on the west 

side of the street, and there were only houses on the west side 

in the old days, are set at a slight angle with the roadway. No 

one knows why it is so, but the theory is that this was originally 

done that each might have a better view over the harbor, and 

so the more readily see returning whalers as they rounded 

Cape Poge. 

ANECDOTES. 

The Edgartown poorhouse once had an inmate, an old lady 



EDGARTOWN. 



43 



who had outlived her 
family and friends, 
but one who was evi- 
dently not anticipat- 
ing an early demise, 
for she steadfastly 
refused to sit in cold 
weather by the warm 
fire in the living room, 
always remaining in 
her own cheerless 
apartment. When 
pressed for a reason, 
the only reply was 
that "the time may 
come when I shall 
have no fire to go to". 
Just what her process 
of reasoning was is 
not clear, but it was 
evidently satisfactory 
to herself. 

One of the ancient 
standard village jokes 
referred to those who worshiped in a building unadorned with 
any steeple. These were said to belong to "an un-towered 
generation". 

STORIES OF FOLKS. 

Peter Folger, before mentioned, once addressed the court as 
follows: "Your Honor, if you knew the witness as well as I 




On North Water Street. One of tlie tew liue old door 
ways that have been preserved to Edgartowii. 



44 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




do, or half as well as 
God does, you would 
not believe a word he 
says." 

Richard E. Norton, 
a great exhorter 
among the Baptists, 
could only speak in 
the weekly prayer 
meeting if he had a 
handkerchief in his 
hand to flourish. If 
by chance he had 
none of his own, he 
must borrow before 
he could proceed, 

when he would walk up and down the aisle waving his danger 

flag while warning 

of trouble to come. 

It is related how one 

evening, arising to 

speak he said that he 

had had a bad dream 

and its relation 

might help some 

poor sinner present, 

which may have 

been a sly dig at the 

boys who regularly 

crowded in to hear 

what new thing The former home of S>quire Harrison Majrhew. 



Here Squire Cooke lived and held petty Court. It was 

once comrooii remark that so and so "would 

have their rights if there was any 

law in Cooke's house". 





«^ 






^^m^rrnjjanB^^^^^^^BB^B 


m 



EDGARTOWN. 



45 



Richard had to say. He dreamed that he died and presented 
himself to St. Peter, who said that he did not know him and 
that there was no place there for him. "Why", says the appli- 
cant, "not know me ? I am Richard E. Norton, of Edgartown, for 
forty years a leader in the Baptist Society. There must be some 
mistake." "No", came the answer, "we do not know you and 
have no place for you here", so he turned sadly away, as- 
tounded and dejected, and started slowly down the hill, but on 
a sudden came an inspiration, and he hurried back to the 
guardian of the Heavenly Gates and said: "St. Peter, it has 
come to nie why you do not know me. Now, St. Peter, do you 
not think you have mixed me up with my brother Jim?" And 
then, looking around the audience : "I awoke and was glad 
enough to know that it was but a dream." The joke lay in the 
fact that brother Jim was 
something of a backslider and 
a thorn in the side of good 
Deacon Richard. 

REV. JOSEPH THAXTER. 
The Reverend Joseph Thax- 
ter of blessed memory served 
as chaplain during the revolu- 
tionary struggle, and in 1780 
became pastor of the Edgar- 
town church. At one time he 
was the only clergyman and 
physician on the island, for he 
healed both bodily and spirit- 
ual ills, and for many years he "^ev. Josei.i. tiimm.-i-, .1:. 73 
once each week walked the eight miles between Edgartown 




46 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



and Holmes Hole to preach on Sunday evening. He was the 
best bone-setter on the island. His charges were : "If rich — 
seventy-five cents; if poor — nothing." His salary was at first 
$500 per annum. This was later reduced to $275, but as he "did 
not preach for money", the cut in no wise made him discon- 
tented. In fact his wants were few; he believed that "brown 
bread and black tea were good enough for ministers". 

"Parson Thaxter" was one of the best beloved men that 
ever put foot on the island, and was a well-known and honored 
man beyond its borders. At the laying of the corner stone of 
the Bunker Hill monument he was not only invited to be pres- 
ent, but asked to offer the prayer, and that prayer has been 
quoted many times. He was at times frank to a degree, as, 
when one of his deacons being asked concerning the weather 
prospects and rejoining that he did not know, as he was not 
very weather-wise, the Parson rejoined : "No, nor much oth- 
erwise." 

The Parson's granddaughter, who still 
lives in Edgartown, has a large number of 
interesting relics of the man, including a 
small oil painting that is a treasure. From 
his tomb we learn that the Rev. Joseph 
Thaxter "was born in Hingham, May 4, 
1744. In July, 1768, he took his first degree 
at Cambridge College, After having made 
considerable attainments in the study and 
practice of medicine, he was induced to de- Parson Tiiaxter'a watcu 
vote himself to the study of divinity. He ^^cuanl. foTtalning' 
commenced preaching in 1771, and on the a curious aoubie- 

° pointed instru- 

8th of November, 1780, he was ordained mem. 




EDGARTQWN. 47 

pastor of the church at Edgartown by the unanimous voice of 
the Church and Town. His success in the ministry was very 
great. During the first year 55 were added to the church and 
147 were baptized." He "was distinguished as a Patriot and 
a Philanthropist. He was on Concord Bridge the igth of April, 
1775. In June, 1776, he joined the army as Chaplain to Pres- 
cott's Regiment, and was at Cambridge, White Plains and 
North River. He was also in New Jersey till March, 1777. 
While in the army his medical knowledge and skill, and his 
zeal in the cause of humanity, rendered him eminently useful. 
He made the first prayer at Bunker Hill, June 7, 1825." 

MAJOR-GENERAL WORTH. 

William Jenkins Worth, Major General of the United States 
Army, was an Edgartown boy to all intents and purposes, 
though born at Hudson, N. Y., March i, 1794, during the tem- 
porary residence there of his parents, they being Edgartown 
people. Returning to Edgartown he was baptized by the Rev. 
Joseph Thaxter, April 8, 1804. His father, Capt. Thomas 
Worth, built the house on Water Street long known as the 
Gibbs House, and Norton Hotel, and here for a time the future 
hero of two wars — 181 2 and with Mexico — resided. 

SOME 'FORTY-NINERS. 

In '49 many Edgartowners sailed away on the "Mary Anne" 
for the gold fields of 'Frisco, but whether they ever came back 
or not, and, if so, under what condition of pocket, I have yet to 
learn. 

A TALE OF THE CIVIL WAR. 
As we walk along South Water Street, we are pretty sure 
to spy over a boathouse door the "quarter-board" of the old 
whaler "Ocmulgee", a martyr to the cause of freedom. 



48 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




From 1859 to 1861 
Raphael Semmes, of 
the United States 
Navy, was secretary 
t o the Lighthouse 
Board, and during 
this period he spent 
considerable time at 
and in the neighbor- 
hood of the Vineyard, 
making his headquar- 
ters so far as possible 
at Edgartown, and 

The Dukes County Court House, 1858. naturally his pOsition 

brought him in contact with the best people of the place, and 
among others with the Osborn family, where there was quite a. 
flock of young folks. Semmes was a man of education and in- 
telligence, made friends easily, and became quite popular with 
the Osbox-n household. 

When the Civil War broke out Semmes, being a native of 
Maryland, cast in his lot with the South, and in due time was 
given command of the cruiser "Alabama", which was fitted out 
in England to prey on Northern shipping. About this time the 
whaleship "Ocmulgee", in which Mr. Osborn was a large share- 
holder, was fitted out for a voyage and placed in command of 
a son, Abraham Osborn. And fate decreed that the paths of 
the one-time friends should again cross, though under very dif- 
ferent circumstances. The whaler proceeded to the neighbor- 
hood of the Azores, where she had a captured whale alongside, 
and was cutting it in (September 5, 1862) when a strange ves- 



EDGARTOWN. 



49 



sel hove in sight. She attracted notice from her pecuHar 
manoeuvers, but all hands were busy, and no great attention 
was paid to her. It seems that the "Ocmulgee", like many 
another vessel of those days, had painted ports along her sides 

in order to make her appear 
like an armed ship, and the 
"Alabama", for such was the 
stranger, spent some time in 
ascertaining the true character 
of the whaleship. 

Finally a boat was dis- 
patched which, learning that 
the vessel was of American 
register, notified Captain Os- 
born that he was a prisoner of 
war. It was a good deal of a 
shock, but there was nothing 
to be done, and the officers and 
crew were taken to the "Ala- 
bama" while the pirates pro- 
ceeded to burn the ship. Os- 
born, of course, had no idea 
who was in command of his captor, and his surprise can safer 
be imagined than expressed when he was confronted with 
Semmes, who no doubt was equally surprised at the identity of 
this his first victim, for the "Ocmulgee" was the first prize 
taken by the rebel cruiser. 

Once he understood the situation, however. Captain Osborn 
proceeded to relieve his mind in a way that was highly dis- 
tasteful to Sem.mes, who did not enjoy being taunted in such 




Captain Osborn and t)ie quarterboard of 
tlie Ocninlgee. 



50 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



hearty fashion ior thus returning the former hospitaHty of the 
Osborns, and he promptly clapped the Captain in irons, where 
he could cool off at his leisure, and thus closed the incident. 

It is some satisfaction to know that the scandalous manner 
in which England broke the neutrality laws, principally in the 
Alabama case, cost her $15,500,000. 

THE MARTHA'S VINEYARD RAILROAD. 
There is not much left 
in these days to show for 
the Martha's Vineyard 
Railroad, which once con- 
nected Oak Bluffs with 
the South Shore by way 
of Edgartown, and there 
will be still less by the 
time this book is written, 
for the dilapidated re- 
mains of the Edgartown station are already on their way down. 
The railroad was opened with a great flourish, the trial trip 
being made on August 22, 1874, when it is said that even the 
horses along the route turned somersaults and climbed trees 
in their enthusiasm as the engine went snorting by. But, oh! 
what a difference now. Enthusiasm is a mighty good thing, 
but it does not pay expenses or dividends, and while the whole 
island was jubilant, and wanted to ride once, folks got over 
the novelty of it in short order, and traffic during the short 
Summer season was not sufficient to meet the demands of cred- 
itors. In other words, it did not figure out such a long-felt 
want as was hoped. 




Tiie last sad remaius of llie M. V. R. R 



EDGARTOWN. 



51 




Tlie coiut'oitablo Home Club. 



THE HOME CLUB 
Every place has 
its talk-centre. In 
the old days this 
was the so-called 
Corn Exchange, 
where the principal 
commodity was 
language and every 
member a capital- 
ist, but of late the 
Home Club has 
come into being, 
and those with 
ideas to exchange 
naturally drift through its welcoming doors and gather on the 
shady veranda or around its blazing hearthstone, according to 
season. The building is probably seventy-five or eighty years 
old, and was for long the home of Capt. Alexander Fisher, an 
old-time whaleman. 
The writer has an 
October memory of 
the ample hearth and 
its bright wood fire 
that invites to social 
converse and com- 
fort galore. Much of 
the material in this 
volume is due to a 

series of evenings Main street from the wharf. 




52 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

thus pleasantly spent within the circle of its generous hospital- 
ity, a circle where even the stranger is allowed to poke the fire. 

The club is accessible to Summer residents as well as to 
those to the Vineyard born, and thus is both a popular and 
populous centre of attraction the year round, with interests 
that radiate from one end of the country to the other, while, of 
course, "yon bark that goes where traffic blows", or where 
blows that greasy old friend of Edgartown's prosperous days, 
is a never ending source of story and reminiscence. 

Among the club's treasures is an interesting reminder of the 
late unpleasantness with Spain — the masthead light of Admiral 
Cervera's flagship, which was done to death in a shell game on 
the southern coast of Cuba. 

MR. RICHARD L. PEASE. 

While the limits of this book prohibit the taking up all of 
the notable characters the island has produced, the writer feels 
so indebted to Mr. Richard L. Pease for the many facts he has 
stored in the pages of the Gazette that it is but fair to give him 
due credit. Mr. Pease died September 2, 1888. aged 74 years, 
after a long and varied career as teacher, Representative in the 
Legislature — and after having filled numerous town offices. 
His reputation as a historian was not confined to Martha's 
Vineyard. Prof. Alexander Graham Bell "found him a perfect 
mine of information". His mother was Polly Luce of Tisbury, 
his father Isaiah D. Pease, forty years sheriff of the county. 

At the age of ig Mr. Pease took charge of the town school, 
leaving that to represent the town in the Massachusetts House 
of Representatives, then learned the art of surveying from his 
uncle, Jeremiah Pease, and followed that business. Was 
Register of the Probate Court, a Justice of the Peace, clerk of 



EDGARTO%VN. 



53 



the courts of the county. At the time of the drafts, in 1863, 
Mr. Pease was one of the three men who had charge of the 
drawing of names in New Bedford. He was a Grant presi- 
dential elector, was Commissioner for the Indians at Gay Head, 
and surveyed their lands; was Postmaster of Edgartown, 
Auditor of Town Accounts, and with it all found time to be the 
historian, antiquarian and genealogist of the island. 




Tliey cliristeneil my brother of old— 

And ii saiutlj' name he bears— 
Tliey gave liim liis place to hold 

At the head of the belfry stairs. 
Where the minster-towers stand 

And the breeding kestrels cry 
Would I change with my brother a league inland ! 

(Shoal! ' Ware shoal ! J Not I! 

Kipling. 



54 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



EDGARTOWN TO OAK BLUFFS. 

IN THE DIRECTION OF WEST TISBURY. 

And now we will move afield. 

As we come to the burial ground on the one hand and the 
little park wherein stands the monument to the Civil Waii 
heroes on the other, we find a guide board pointing two ways : 
West Tisbury and Oak Bluffs, or Cottage City, as the old board 
still reads, and as we shall travel by way of Oak Bluffs, it will 
be necessary to digress for a few moments along the older road 
toward the west. 

The writer has a very distinct recollection of the mean trick 
he played on himself in the days of the bicycle, when he at- 
tempted this road from Edgartown to West Tisbury, It may 
be better now — he has not been over it since — but then it was 
a series of deep little gullies where horses or wagon wheels 
went, with the beginnings of a scrub oak forest on each small 
ridge. One could not only not ride a wheel along this bicycler's 
inferno, he could not even push it, because narrow was the way 
and deep were the tracks. Mere words fail to express the im- 
pression left by that day's experience. 

By consulting the road map one will find a track that wor- 
ries down to the head of Wintucket Cove, from whence Edgar- 
town draws its water ; in fact there is a network of farm roads, 
with occasional gates to open and close, all through this south- 
ern part of the island, many of which do not show on any map, 



EDGARTOWN TO OAK BLUFFS. 



55 



and they all furnish attractive suggestions for small-sized ex- 
cursions. 

SUBMERGED FORESTS. 

In Wintucket Cove and in Janes Cove adjoining are to be 
found under the water the stumps of great trees that small 
boats sometimes ground on. These are relics of an ancient 
forest which go to show that the land has sunk from its former 
high position, as these trees must have attained their growth 
above high water mark. The same thing is found on the shore 
of Vineyard Haven harbor, and possibly at other points on the 
island, while well out in Vineyard Sound it is stated that an- 
chors have brought up tree tops, indicating a former forest. 



M iUn / .i ^ uiultUZU kill- 
t:aun t ^ iiu. 1 >4.ei>\.i LkUttn v.ki_ua\ . ui.i-n ,m» ] 

..^i a nij. iti. au. lluo. tat l jn Viuutuit ua; 
. una. i-iux. LuxKL lu. .uuju. au n.T?Ti,Mi: 

CVi-lku V I lL -lid. tlill I.U ttt I .tfcLUCCUt 

LUr ^^_ li^ci 



The Mayliew Tablet on tlie roail from E(l^'a^towIl to Wtst Tisbiiry. 



56 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

THE THOMAS MAYHEW TABLET 

About half way to West Tisbury on the south side of the 

road stands the tableted rock marking the spot where Thomas 

Mayhew, Jr., took leave of the Indians when about to start on 

his fatal trip for England. 

LITTLE POND. 

Another track through this scrub oak wilderness is a half- 
moon known as Doctor Fisher's Road, built by a gentleman of 
the name to connect his mill in Tisbury, where water power is 
to be had, with Edgartown. Along this is situated a drop of 
water known as Little Pond, which has a somewhat fabulous 
interest through its legendary ability to reverse the laws of 
nature. The pond is about 120 feet above high water, and 
though small for its age, has never been known to go dry ; there 
is no fresh or salt water near it and not a brooklet runs into or 
out of it. Now the legend is that when a Summer is particu- 
larly wet the pond is some two feet lower than is the case in a 
particularly dry spell, and the cause is thought a very pretty 
mystery. Dr. Freeman rather attem.pts to break the spell when 
he says: "Those, who during a hundred years have conveyed 
it from one mouth to another, have probably been too much 
pleased with the wonderful tale to give themselves the trouble 
to examine into its truth." 

THE OLD ROAD TO HOLMES HOLE. 

Now if we start once more from that double-pointing guide 
board, this time for Oak Bluffs, there shortly appears on the 
left the one time main road to Holmes Hole and to Eastville, 
which, once safely passed, we can nowhere go but to Oak 
Bluffs. 



EDGARTOWN TO OAK BLUFFS. 



57 




Gathering sea weed on the shore of Seugekontacket 



BY WAY OF THE STATE ROAD. 
Professor Shaler says 
that "Sengekontacket 
Pond was originally a 
broad bay which has been 
barred from the sea by a 
wall beach of sand", and 
it is along this beach that 
our highway proceeds with 
water close on either hand. 
The road has one and only 
one drawback : It is a 
good road, and conse- 
quently much affected by 
the automobile, whose in- 
decent haste prevents its occupants from enjoying the view 
and fills the eyes and clothes of less rapid citizens with dust 
and distress. However there are moments when, free from this 
annoyance, we can look 
off over the great ex- 
panse of Vineyard Sound 
across the watery waste 
of Squash Meadow and 
Hedge Fence, or, on the 
other hand, across the 
lesser waters of the pond 
and to its further shore, 
Weeks Neck, Majors 
Cove or Farm Neck, 

where formerly stood on T|,g g^g^t expanse of vineyard Sound. 




58 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



the Butler meadow a mill -for grinding tanbark, and still stands 
the one time home of Ichabod Norton. 

IN PRAISE OF GUNNERS. 

As the bridge over the pond's outlet is crossed we are likely 
to see one or more fishermen pulling in great store of cunners. 
Some folks eat these things under the impression that they are 
intended for food, and I have heard them, called salt water' 
perch by such, but in the opinion of the writer they are only fit 
for the food of their betters in watery society, and as the catch- 
ing of them consists in a twitch of the line and the pulling up of 
an undemonstrative wiggle, there is no great excitement about 
it or sport, but already the cunner occupies more space than he 
is entitled to. 




Abitle wit]i me. 



OAK BLUFFS AND THE CAMP MEETING GROUNDS. 59 



OAK BLUFFS AND THE CAMP MEETING GROUNDS. 

Soon Oak Bluffs begins to open ahead; that Oak Bluffs 
which was once a Butler sheep pasture, and now that the sheep 
are gone, grown thick and rank with the cottages of the Sum- 
mer population. 

This is the natural growth of the camp meeting, started in 
1835. which has spread from a preacher's platform and a few 
rough seats to a community where, during the Summer, many 
thousands dwell together in unity. Jeremiah Pease, of Edgar- 
town, it was who selected the site of the "Wesleyan Grove" 
camp gound, "a grove of venerable oaks", the property of 
William Butler. "Such another spot can hardly be found on 
earth so nearly resembling Eden in its primeval beauty and 
loveliness." The first meeting was opened here August 24, 
1835, 3"d since then meetings have been held yearly with the 
single exception of 1845. For a long time Mr. Butler made no 
charge for the use of his grounds. It was an open-air meeting, 
with rough board seats, the people sleeping in church tents 
placed in a circle around the main meeting place. The first 
service was conducted by Rev. Thomas C. Pierce; sixty-five 
persons were converted during the week. 

At the meeting of 1844 an appeal was made for money to 
enable a colored woman present to purchase the freedom of her 
son. About $60 was secured, more than was asked for. 

In 1850 the grounds were re-leased for a term of eleven 



60 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

years at a yearly rental of $30. In 1851 there were about 100 
tents and from 3,500 to 4,000 worshipers. At this meeting "an 
aged sea captain of the vicinity, who owned much of the land 
leased for the convenience of our meetings" was converted, 
while on the other hand "a few of the baser sort occasionally 
gave some slight intimations that the old man still lived". 

In 1855 some 200 tents dotted the grove, about 150 being 
family tents, but this year it was voted "That no one hereafter 
be allowed to have a family tent on this ground unless he be 
approved as a suitable person to do so by the church in his 
vicinity, he being a member or not as the case may be", this in 
order that the family tent custom be not "abused by irre- 
ligious persons to the injury of the camp meetings". In 1856 
the ownership of the grounds changed hands and the good 
brethren in 1857 considered the advisability of a change of loca- 
tion in view of the high value set by the new owner, but in 1858 
matters were adjusted and a new lease effected to commence 
at the termination of the old in 1861 and to run for ten years, 
with privilege to buy at the market value of the land. 

By i860 this had become the largest meeting of the kind in 
the world, streets were being regularly laid out and permanent 
tent fram.es erected. The place began to take on the appear- 
ance of a health and pleasure resort, and numbers of people 
came weeks before the lime set for the meeting. 

A new organization was recommended with a "committee 
of laym.en". A name was chosen — "the Martha's Vineyard 
Camp Meeting Association". 

In 1 86 1 seats with backs were the innovation. 
In 1862 the "Camp Meeting Herald" was issued, the first 
paper of the kind in the world. 



OAK BLUFFS AND THE CAMP MEETING GROUNDS. 



61 



In 1864 "acres of grove south of the old encampment laid 
out and lotted" for "hundreds of tents and cottages". 

In 1866 more than 16,000 persons were present, and people 
began to come by the loth of July. 

In 1869 the oaks in the grove being old and having lost much 
foliage an awning was constructed over the seats. This ap- 
pears to have been the first year the Hutchinson family sang — 
many will recall them. 
"The Vineyard Grove 
Company" was formed 
and "The Vineyard 
Highlands" named. 

Since then progress 
has been steady and 
rapid. A high picket 
fence was built around 
the grounds and dur- 
ing the meeting week 
the gates were closed 
at an early hour each 
evening. No stores, ex- 
cept for absolute neces- 
sities, were allowed 
within the fence — hence 
Circuit Avenue, which 
skirted the outer walls. 
OAK BLUFFS. 

Those coming to 
meetings, seeing that 
the land was good for 




Tlie "Consecrated" tree, Hartfoni Park, Oak 
Blufts. Picture takeu in 1884. 



62 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Summer purposes, formed the Oak Bluffs Association in 1867, 
and the land nearer the water was laid out in streets and lots. 
The first time the writer visited the island, as a very small boy 
with his parents, a cottage on Circuit Avenue was occupied, 
and that year lots on Hartford Park, almost opposite the "Con- 
secrated Tree", were purchased and a cottage erected. At that 
time this cottage was the nearest one to the water, but the 
region began to fill up so rapidly that in three years it was be- 
coming too crowded, and a new dwelling place was selected on 
the borders of the Lagoon, near Vineyard Haven. 

In 1868 the first hotel, the 
Oak Bluffs House, was 
erected. 

In 1869 the first "illumina- 
tion" occurred and the Fox- 
boro Brass Band added to 
the commotion. The scene 
and sounds are said to have 
suggested "the shining 
shore". 

Then came the Sea View Hotel, the Union Chapel and the 
railroad to Edgartown, and life was full. 




Watiliins the bathers. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



63 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



VINEYARD HIGHLANDS. 
In 1869-70 a new col- 
ony was started on the 
high land of East Chop, 
a large wooded area be- 
ing reserved for preach- 
ing services. Shortly 
after Squash Meadow 
Pond was divided by 
the present road, that 
portion on the west be- 
ing thereafter known 
as Jordan, sometimes 
Sunset Lake, while the 
eastern waters were 
Lake Anthony and, later, when a passage was dredged through 
the beach, Oak Bluffs harbor. 

In 1875 steps were taken to organize a Baptist camp meet- 
ing here, and a year later the "Baptist Vineyard Association" 

was in full swing. 

TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 

The interesting way to m.ove on Vineyard Haven from Oak 
Bluffs is along the brow of East Chop and the harbor shore. 
This stretch, to and including West Chop, is as beautiful and 




The Oak Bliifts harbor. 



64 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

varied as the Atlantic coast affords and, including as it does 
the legends and history and local lore of the harbor, the Lagoon 
and old Holmes Hole, can furnish forth many an attractive 
hour. 

The short cut as the trolley goes to Eastville is merely a 
means to an end. 

BATTLE OF THE HEDGE STAKES. 

At the very start we pitch into the midst of war and war's 
alarms for, where is now the Highland bathing beach, once 
raged "The Battle of the Hedge Stakes", an incident of the War 
of 1812. Here, in an inauspicious moment, a coasting schooner 
stranded when a British man of war was hovering out in the 
Sound. As the enemy made a point of destroying all shipping 
in the effort to cripple the colonies, the Englishman was prompt 
to seize the opportunity offered and lowered away a boat for 
the plunder and burning of the helpless schooner. But word 
of the impending trouble was carried throughout the country, 
and before the boat could reach its intended victim the farmers 
were flocking m on horseback or afoot. Few had arms, but 
a hedge fence bordering a nearby field offered its stakes, and 
these were promptly distributed to the resolute islanders, who 
reached the schooner before the attacking party could do any 
damage, and literally clubbed the British off, for so impetuous 
was their onslaught that the single boat load of tars was forced 
to retire defeated of its purpose. Every island man was a sailor 
as well as farm.er and with so many willing hands the vessel 
was soon floated and out of danger. 

FROM EAST CHOP. 

Now a fight does not put us in a proper frame of mind for 
what is to ccme so we must mount the hill slowly in order to 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



65 




The New York Yacht Club passing East Chop, 



cool off and be prepared for the beauty and magnificence of 
the viev/ for, as we reach the higher level, at our feet is the vast 
expanse of Vineyard Sound, an enchantment of opalescent 
color, of white caps or doldrums, of catboats and steamers and 
tows and schooners, and across the five miles of water the scat- 
tering villages of the Cape. Never twice alike and ever beau- 
tiful. 

THE WASTING OF EAST CHOP. 
On the eastern side of East Chop Prof. Henry L. Whiting, 
who first mapped the island in 1845-6, found that the bluff, 
which has a height here of about 80 feet, retreated 75 feet be- 
tween 1845 and 1 87 1, or at the rate of 3 feet per annum. In 
these years 13,000,000 cubic feet of earth and stones were 
washed away by the strong currents, a large portion being 
carried into Vineyard Haven harbor, 

THE "VINEYARD SOUND RIVER". 

Professor Shaler writes that the streams of the northern 

shore of the island suggest that when the land was at a higher 

level they entered a large stream occupying the central part of 



66 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



the broad valley now covered by Vineyard Sound, this valley 
being presumably excavated by river action, which river prob- 
ably had its source on the southern side of Cape Cod. And 
that the position of another stream is perhaps traceable in the 
Muskeget Channel, which separates this island from Nantucket. 
"It is likely that to the inosculation of the headwaters of these 
two rivers we owe the formation of the channel which now 
separates the islands from Cape Cod. Though Nantucket may 
have been cut out by the tidal currents." It can only be a 
coincidence that an Indian legend should seem to bear out the 
Professor's theory, but it is interesting to note such a one. The 
legend has to do with the fabled giant Moshop, and is to the 
effect that in the long ago this island was joined to the main- 
land and that Moshop, coming home after a long and weary 
tramp, dragged one of his heavy feet upon the ground, and 

that his great toe cut 
a deep channel to the 
sea which the tidal 
waters filled and soon 
began to wash out the 
land until it became as 
at present. The In- 
dian legends have at- 
tached themselves to 
Gay Head and the 
South Shore, but this 
one seems to fit in 
here fairly well. 

THE VISTA. 
Nothing can cut out the view. rpj^^ ^^^ j-^^ ^^ 




OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



67 



close to the edge of the bluff that nothing can cut out the view, 
where the great ships go sailing by and where the many tints 
of the water suggest to the practical mind its depth, to the 
poetic the home of mystery and wonder. It is interesting to 
close one's eyes and imagine what this road would have been 
like in pre- Vineyard Sound days, even before East Chop was 
the sheep pasture of Ebenezer Smith, and when this was 
merely a swell of land and no salt water within many miles. 
Before we reach the lighthouse a glance across the mouth of 
the harbor shows the tower of the West Chop light glistening 
in the morning sun, while Falmouth, the old mainland port of 
the Vineyard, "whence a ferry boat (in 1807) conveys the trav- 
eler to Holm.es Hole", crowns a sand bluff across the waters. 

THE EAST CHOP LIGHT. 
How much of in- 
terest and romance 
has swept up and 
down this highway 
of the coast during 
the past four hun- 
dred years, and what 
legends cling to it — 
of Norsemen, Dutch- 
men, Spanish pirates 
and prowling Eng- 
lish war vessels that 
scourged these is- 

East Chop Light. i^j^^g -j^ ,^Q 3j^^ j8j2. 

The history of the East Chop Light is an interesting one. 
But long before that time a semaphore stood here that gos- 




68 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



siped whaling news with Chappaquidick, and so to Nantucket. 
The government long refused to consider the placing of a 
light at this spot, but finally granted permission to private 
enterprise, and when Silas Daggett took hold and began to 
push the scheme went through. Mr. Daggett secured small 
subscriptions from the several steamship lines passing through 
the Sound and from such sailing vessels as entered the harbor^ 
visiting each and explaining the situation. The response was 
prompt, as the warnnig was needed, and when the Lighthouse 
Board concluded to take it over and bought out its proprietor^ 
that gentlem.an is said to have retired with quite a snug sum. 

THE DOUBLE SHORE LINE. 
The road winds 
back of the light- 
house, and as we 
begin to descend 
there is the pano- 
rama of the harbor 
spread for us. And 
now we can see |in 
the double shore line 
what has become of 
much of that sand 
that East Chop has 
been deprived of, for 
below is a small, 
fresh water pond, 
whose southeastern bank was once the harbor shore, while now 
the road travels the new made shore some hundreds of feet 
further out. 



. 












V.^ "V."^-! 1 












^^s 


k' 










Ml fvMM 










HJI 


pi 






m 


H 


.^^ 


^sm 


m 


^^^I^^H 


1 


1 



The (loul>le shore line near EastviUc. Tlie outer strip 

wliere tlie road runs accoinits lor i)art of 

the wash from Kast Choii. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



69 



THE HARBOR. 

In the good old days the coasting trade was handled almost 
exclusively by schooners, and all of it went through Vineyard 
Sound — a great fleet daily. Thus every shift of wind meant a 
filling up of the harbor with vessels that wished to go the 
other way, and thought it v/ell to wait for a favoring breeze. 
Methods of transportation have changed during the past thirty 
years and the picturesque sailing craft are steadily disappear- 
ing. Strings of barges are now more frequent and the sails 
less so, though occasionally even now a long continued head 
wind will temporarily bring back the old times. 

While vessels are less numerous the carrying capacity of 
those now doing the business is so much greater that the values 
transported are colossal. During last Winter's ice age the Ga- 
zette reported 41 loaded barges with over 50,000 tons of coal 
under the hatches, and 20 ocean-going tugs stalled in Vine- 
yard Haven harbor at 
one time, representing 
a value of $2,500,000. 
A coal barge may be a 
dirty and unpicturesque 
old thing to gaze on, 
but it seems to repre- 
sent a considerable in- 
vestment. 

When one looks down 
on such a fleet at night 
with all its riding lights 
gleaming it seems like 
a city set on a hill slope 



... s^^i- 1 



In a rctlective iiiodd. 



70 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

and the ghostly uncertainty of the few sails left up help along 
the delusion. The sounds that are brought by the gentle 
breezes, the voices of the birds in the trees and the cries of the 
feathered fishermen mingled with calls from the vessels or the 
laughter of a party on the road below (for we are still looking 
down from East Chop) transforms even the most prosaic trav- 
eler into a dreamer. Even the roar of the trolley is turned to 
music. It is a Summer day's dream of peace and beauty, 
with the distant village sleeping on the western slope and the 
foreground a moving scene of vessels and laughter. 

MR. COUSINS. 
Before we become too peacefully hilarious, however, it may 
be well to introduce Mr. Cousins, of Eastville, a patriot of the 
Revolution, but too delicate to stand the hardships of a 
soldier's life. The fact that he could not go when men were 
so needed at the front wrought upon his sensibilities (for they 
were as sensitive as his body) until he was almost ashamed to 
meet his fellow man. But his pent up feelings finally found an 
outlet in a British war vessel which one day dropped anchor 
about half way over to Falmouth. Mr. Cousins then got out 
his old flint-lock and, proceeding to the nearest point on the 
shore, began to blaze away in right good earnest, loading and 
firing as rapidly as possible all day long, not that it would dis- 
turb the enemy — he knew his old blunderbus? could not reach 
half the distance, and that he could not by any possibility harm 
the ship — but, when asked why he was wasting so much good 
powder and lead, he responded that "it was to show his colors". 
The poor fellow could no doubt have faced death in such a 
cause with a smile and yet have been as tender as a girl over 
the hurt of a kitten. Of such fine clay are few men made. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



71 




■■:i=zuKmcaiSm, 



Old school sliiiJ St. Mary's In Vinej'ard Haven 
Harbor. Sent to the junk heap in 1908. 



HIGH ROLLERS. 
Our road now travels the 
new sands where the water 
is but a toss away — so near 
that its little rippling waves 
can readily be heard as 
they patter on the shore, 
and shortly we come to 
the old wharf where the 
New York and Portland 
boats once stopped. Some 
very seasick memories cling 
about those old boats. Even 
Capt. Bragg, of the "Fran- 
conia", once admitted in a moment of relaxation that "the 
blankety blank old thing would roll while she was lying at the 
dock". The old landing is now a station of the New York 
Yacht Club, and it is here that the Club frequently ends its 
Summer cruises, staying twenty-four hours or less and adding 
its evening illumination to the general gaiety of the harbor. 

EASTVILLE. 

Here the road turns up the slope to the trolley track, where 
it's "westward, ho !" again and we pass back of two or three 
rather pretentious cottages before swinging down to the 
water's edge once more. But before going quite so far we will 
stop a moment in front of the Eastville Inn, for this is Eastville, 
the terminus of one of the oldest highways on the island. 

The Eastville Inn was an old tavern, celebrated in more 
ways than one, for Ebenezer Smith kept it and he knew how, 
and Mrs. Smith appears to have been a housekeeper such as 



72 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

lives only in story books. Her floors were washed once a week 
with skim-milk that they might shine as her floors must shine, 
and the way she brought up her fifteen children shown forth 
gloriously in the result, and if result is the thing to look at, 
certainly the Smith family was a satisfactory example, for of 
the sons four were masters of ships to the Pacific Ocean and 
a fifth made one voyage, while of the sons-in-law three were 
masters of ships to the Pacific Ocean and a fourth made one 
voyage. Of the grandsons five were masters of ships and of 
the grandsons-in-law (if such there be) three were masters of 
ships. It would have been difficult to throw a stick into a 
crowd in these parts and not hit a Captain Smith, or his Captain 
brother-in-law. 

HE WHO COMMANDED THE CHESAPEAKE. 

Capt. James Lawrence was once the guest of Mr. Smith. At 
the dinner table, where Mrs. Smith presided, he was greatly 
impressed with the way in which the good lady ruled over her 
flock of growing-ups — she was known in her family as the 
"general". When she did not appear at the breakfast table 
next morning the Captain inquired after her, to be informed 
that a son had arrived during the night. 

The Captain immediately asked the honor of naming the 
boy and that being gladly granted, gave him his own name, at 
the sam.e time stripping the buttons from his vest and present- 
ing them. For a long time these buttons were held among the 
sacred family treasures, being kept in a teacup in the cupboard, 
where reposed the best china ; but much to the regret of the 
present generation they have disappeared. Would even one of 
them bob up now to be cherished as a memento it can rest 
assured of an old age of ease and comfort. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



73 



WASH FROM EAST CHOP. 
The strip of ponds and marsh land that extends just inside 
this shore Hne to the Lagoon is all accounted for by the wash 
from East Chop. So recent is some of this dry land which has 
arisen from the depths that Mr. Howes Norris has talked with 
those who used to speak of a stone west from the corner of the 
Oliver Linton house as the "landing stone". This is now 
buried in the grass some 200 feet east of the Beach Road, and 
possibly 600 feet east of the present shore line. 

OLIVER LINTON HOUSE. 
The Oliver Linton 
house is so sensitive 
about its age that no 
one really knows 
when it was built. 
Some claim that it is 
the oldest house on 
the island, but this 
claim seems to be 
chiefly based on a 
brick in the chimney 
bearing the date 
1615. This ante- 
dates the Mayhew 
coming by so many 
years that that brick would seem to be a — well, mistaken. 

TREASURE BURIED ON THE SHORE OF THE LAGOON. 

And now we come to the margin of the Lagoon and another 

story, for here is the spot where the treasure was buried, just 

inside of Quay's Neck, as the point at the east end of the Lagoon 




The Oliver Liuton Hoii.se. Eastville. 



74 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



bridge was then known. But we must begin at the beginning 
or we shall have our treasure discovered before the pirates 
have had an opportunity to bury it. 

About 1850 the ship "Splendid"? (there is some doubt about 
the name) from the East Indies dropped anchor in Holmes 
Hole harbor and stayed so long as to excite comment, allowing 
several favoring gales to pass unheeded. She finallj' sailed, 
however, leaving two captains who had come as passengers, 
and bit by bit the following interesting situation was devel- 
oped : — 

Two schooners were sent out from the Dutch East Indies 
to the Spice Islands for cargo, each having on board a consider- 
able quantity of specie. One of these was wrecked in a ty- 
phoon, but the m.oney was saved and taken on board of the 

other schooner. Then the cap- 
tains of both conspired to ap- 
propriate the money and report 
its loss. But when they fell in 
with the "Splendid" in the In- 
dian Ocean they seemed to 
have realized that two birds in 
the hand were better than one, 
and that they might just as 
well have it all, and the cash 
was transferred to the ship and 
the second schooner aban- 
doned. 

Holmes Hole was the first 
port the vessel made, and with 
the connivance of the ship's 




Tlic bones of a fislieriuan. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



75 



captain they buried the treasure just inside of the opening into 
the Lagoon and the ship sailed, leaving behind the two pas- 
sengers, who stopped "down the Neck". The pirates soon en- 
gaged the services of Clifford Dunham, and on the first con- 
venient night they sailed to 
the Lagoon in Dunham's open 
boat — there was no bridge or 
Beach Road in those days — 
dug up the cash and crossed 
the Sound to Falmouth. 

The night was a bitter and 
tempestuous one, and all were 
severely frost-bitten, so much 
so that they made a bad mess 
of landing and attracted con- 
siderable attention. Some one 
saw them bury the gold and 
place a flag over it, while they 
went to a nearby farmhouse 

to thaw out. The news was They ma.le a ba,n.,e.s.s of lamlinR. 

spread that there were pirates on the beach, and a party was 
organized which dug up the money, deposited it in the Fal- 
mouth Bank and then arrested the two captains. Dunham re- 
ceived a six-quart tin pail full of silver dollars for his share of 
the night's work, but they do say that the pirates stole some 
of it back before landing; other tellers of the story say that 
when it was discovered that the money was stolen the authori- 
ties took away from him what little his passengers had left. 
All agree that the ferryman got little but experience for his 
night's work. 




76 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Some remember that 
one of the men confessed 
that only half of the 
money had been removed 
from the Lagoon's shore 
by the pirates ; others that 
the fact that treasure had 
been buried thereabouts 
leaked before any of it 
had been taken away. At 
any rate, the story got out 
at some point in the game 
and excitement ran high. 
Men swarmed all along 
the shore with iron rods 
or bean poles, or other 
handy implement for tak- 
ing soundings in the sand. 
One man tells me that he 
dug so near it that, had 
the sand not been frozen, 
it must have caved and exposed the treasure, but the money 
was not found until the authorities came with a chart, giving 
the proper bearings — "57 feet due nothe from Rufus Davis's 
boat house", now gone, this being not five rods from the end of 
the present bridge. The fact was that Peter West had pulled 
his boat up over the exact spot and painted her, and though the 
beach was prodded full of holes and dug up all around the boat, 
no one thought of moving her. Those were great days for East- 
ville; people flocked from all parts of the island, and the store 




A Vineyard Havtii racing Cat. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 77 

on the beach was a buzz of excitement. The two pirate cap- 
tains, Pitman and Brown (or Dixie)— here again people insist 
on being different — were taken to Salem, tried and convicted. 
THE NORTH END OF THE LAGOON AND "DADDY" RICHARDSON. 
This curving bit of Lagoon shore is quiet enough now, but 
it was not always thus, for where the bank begins to rise was 
once a windmill for grinding corn, and there is yet a little old 
graveyard whose wooden headstones were the marvel of my 
youth, for all around the painted letters the weather had worn 
away thel wood until by the time the paint itself had disap- 
peared the lettering was raised above the surface. This was 
used principally for the burial of those brought on shore from 
vessels and who died in the Marine Hospital which stood close 
by, a low double house kept by "Daddy" Richardson, a charac- 
ter, whose chief occupation was the making of seines which were 
everywhere and over everything. "Daddy" was not much of a 
talker, but he could repeat the Bible from cover to cover. The 
trouble with the old gentleman was that while it was easy 
enough to get started, he never knew when to stop, and when 
in class meeting he had run about so far, some one must drop 
an extinguisher on him in the shape of a lustily sung hymn or 
other diversion. Still nearer the bridge was a shipyard where 

Ichabod Norton built his vessels. 

ICHABOD NORTON. 

Suppose we digress to Ichabod himself for a moment :— 
Born in 1761 he died in 1847 full of years and honor. His 
monument in Edgartown tells us that "His house was open to 
travelers, and his hand ever open for the benefit of others. He 
arrived at a good old age, was at last gathered to his fathers, 
his noblest of mottoes, an Honest Man. Endeared to his fel- 



78 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




As evening comes. 



low beings by firmness 
and fidelity in public 
affairs, and his honesty 
in all his private deal- 
ings. By prudence and 
economy he amassed a 
large fortune, which he 
wisely distributed for 
the benefit of his 
friends". 

The motto which he 
had cut over his fireplace — "Deal justly, Love mercy and pay 
all debts" — was the keynote of his life, but as he was one of the 
few men on the island who had money to loan, in fact wasi 
known as "the bank of Edgartown", there were naturally some 
who were not quite as charitable in their expressions of opin- 
ion as the good book counsels. Like many strong men he had 
his odd side. It is said that in his old age he sent for a friend 
and, remarking that he already had his coffin in the house, 
asked the friend to write an epitaph for him. This the friend 
declined to do, because he was his friend, but offered to find 
some one who would do it, and this is what the two brought to 
Uncle Ichabod: — 

"Here lies old Twelve-and-a-Half Per Cent, 
The more he had the less he spent ; 
The more he had the more he craved. 
Oh, Lord, can Ichabod be saved?" 

It is not on record that the epitaph v/as used. 

Ichabod lived in the Farm Neck or Pokoy neighborhood 
and his old homestead, that of Nicholas, the first Norton settler. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VIInTEYARD HAVEN. 79 

is Still in the family, though most of his brothers emigrated to 
Maine. He had the reputation of being very sharp, very smart, 
very economical and very hospitable, for he kept open house for 
a multitude of nephews and nieces, and evidently thought more 
of the getting than of the money, as when some one remarked 
that the riches he had toiled for and had been so long saving 
would fly fast when he was gone, the old man replied that if 
those to come enjoyed the spending as well as he had the get- 
ting, they would receive great pleasure from his money. 

MERELY LOCATING UNCLE PETER WEST. 
Still further and in the fields lived Uncle Peter West, of 
whose sayings and doings many stories are current. During 
the earlier camp meeting days, particularly before the entrance 
to the Lagoon was bridged, the usual route for those attending 
worship from Holmes Hole was across the waters of the La- 
goon and across the fields on foot past the corner of Uncle 
Peter's house. In those days the place was far from being the 
lonely spot that it now is. 

TO DO AWAY WITH THE BEACH ROAD. 
The present opening into the Lagoon was put through in 
1815 by a great storm, and it was not until 1872 that the bridge 
was built and the Beach Road opened ; up to that time travel 
for Vineyard Haven went by the head of the Lagoon. Of late 
years there has been some agitation looking toward the doing 
away with this bridge and throwing the Lagoon open as a har- 
bor of refuge from the northeast storms. It is believed that by 
cutting out a considerable strip of the beach and thus making 
wide the opening, the action of the currents, whose swift waters 
now bring vast quantities of sand into the Lagoon, would 



80 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Good liolding around. 



cease. With a sea 
wall at East Chop and 
spur jetties along the 
Eastville shore to stop 
the further wash into 
the harbor (and this 
must be done sooner 
or later anyway), and 
with some little initial 
dredging, the work 
could be accomplished 
without a too great 
expense, and once done, should take care of itself. This would 
be a great boon, particularly to small boats and yachts, and 
would unquestionably induce many more of the latter to use 
the harbor, of which yachtsmen are inclined to fight shy, owing 
to the exposed anchorage under certain weather conditions 
which are difficult to 
foretell. Already a 
short breakwater has 
been built as a shelter 
for small boats, but 
this is wholly inade- 
quate to the needs of 
the place, those first on 
the ground have, 
rightly enough, appro- 
priated all the good 
moorings ; thus the 
Summer visitor and the 




'I'lie result of a nortlieiist stoiiii. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



81 



cruiser can find no anchorage that will put his mind at ease. 
Consequently Vineyard Haven harbor has a bad name among 
yachtsmen, as the owner of course gives heed to what his 
skipper says, and the skipper, being responsible, naturally pre- 
fers not to take chances. If, on the other hand, there was a 
place where the yachtsman knew he would be safe and snug 
he would, as a matter of course, drop in for a look around, and 
this class leaves money wherever it goes. Stewards have a free 
hand for purchases, while hotels, livery stables and souvenir 
shops would come in for their share, and all manner of repairs 
are called for. 

This would, of course, destroy the drive along the beach, 
but a drive could be constructed from Vineyard Haven to 
Chunks Hill on the Lagoon, and so up and around its eastern 
bank, that would be quite as beautiful and still more varied. 
As a matter of fact, the region about the upper waters of the 
Lagoon is one of the most beautiful and least visited of any on 
the island Still another suggestion is a road by way of the 
Marine Hospital to the shore of the Lagoon opposite Robins 

Rock and a bridge across 
the water, as the deep wa- 
ter here is comparatively 
narrow. 

OUT, DAMNED SPOT! 
The writer would like to 
express his disapproval of 
the telegraph-telephone- 
trolley poles and wires that 
line so many public high- 
ways to the serious detri- 




Schooner loaded with lime on fire. 



82 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Sea Weed Hall. 



ment of their beauty; the generation is probably not far off 
that will wonder why such disfigurements were allowed. This 
abomination is particularly offensive along the Beach Road, and 
is the only fly in the ointment until we reach the borders of 
Vineyard Haven, where 
some careless citizen 
has allowed the dump- 
ing of rubbish and par- 
ticularly papers, that 
blow all over the lot. a 
m.ost disagreeable in- 
troduction to the vil- 
lage. Few people real- 
ize the money value of 
beauty. Why not make 
a good impression on folks when they enter the town? Most 
of us are careful not to dump ashes and garbage in our front 
halls: why should Vineyard Haven allow it? The village de- 
serves better of its fathers, for it is one of the most beautiful 
and sightly of places, situated as it is on a wooded slope and em- 
bracing the head of the harbor in a gentle curve. 

So great an authority as Richard Watson Gilder writes as 
follows on much the same subject : — 

"One of these days the people of a commercial community 
will appreciate the fact that, to put it commercially, beauty is a 
valuable asset, as well as a 'joy forever' ; and then the adver- 
tisement fiend will not be allowed to go up and down the land 
destroying views, which means destroying values — values that 
belong to the entire population, and that no individual has a 
right to ruin." 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 



83 



BASS CREEK AND THE INNER HARBOR. 
The former entrance to the Lagoon was Bass Creek, which 
at one time cut across the beach just west of the present marine 
railway. The creek, however, steadily cut away the sand on 
the west and filled in on the east, thus sidling along the beach 
to a point just beyond where the village wharf now puts forth, 
and Bass Creek then followed the course now taken by Water 
Street; in 1S07 the creek carried 6 or 7 feet of water. The 




The Marine Kailway. 



great storm of 1815 carried a brig into and partially down the 
creek where it grounded, and in doing so drove its jibboom into 
the side of the Great House. The scar is there to-day, under 
the sheathing. 

The western arm of the Lagoon was in those days an inner 
harbor. This is now so shallow that only an occasional row- 
boat or Ben Luce's flock of ducks navigate it, but within the 
memory of Philander West, who died within a very few years. 



84 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Thu viUiigf blacksmith. 



tify that nothing of 
this sort has occur- 
red so recently as 
that year, and it is 
probable that the 
sketch is of earlier 
date. 

OLD HARBOR 

LIGHTS. 
The commanding 
position now occu- 
pied by the Marine 
Hospital was within 
the writer's memo- 



a brig has anchored there 
off the Marine Hospital. 
The larger of the two gras- 
sy islands is Ferryboat Is- 
land, because Isaac Chase, 
who established the ferry 
between Holmes Hole and 
Falmouth, was in the habit 
of bringing his boat inside 
and anchoring under its lee. 
A pamphlet published in 
1879 contains a woodcut ot 
Vineyard Haven with 
sloops and a schooner an- 
chored inside of the Beach 
Road. The writer can tes- 




Wreckage from the "City ot Columhus". Just to the 
left of the rigging the distance shows the old mill. 



OAK BLUFFS TO VINEYARD HAVEN. 85 

ry the site of a lighthouse that marked the head of the harbor, 
though it never saw active service within his time. This must 
have been in commission by 1858 or 9. The light keeper was 
Moses C. Cromwell, who lived in the next house toward the vil- 
lage at the water's edge. Before this lighthouse came into 
being there were here three "Bug" or range lights, situated one 
on either side of the hospital site and on one of the islands be- 
low, probably Ferryboat Island. The list of lighthouses pub- 
lished for 1857 has this to say concerning these: — 

"Holmes Hole Beacons, at Holmes Hole Harbor, ranging 
with the two channels to the anchorage: 3 fixed lights, red, 
white and green; 6th order lens; built in 1854. Ranges for 
entering the harbor at Holmes Hole. Red and white lights 
range for the western entrance and green and white lights 
range for the eastern entrance." 



86 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



VINEYARD HAVEN, XEE HOLMES HOLE. 




THE VILLAGE. 
Suppose we quote Pro- 
fessor Shaler concerning 
this our village : It is 
"one of those accidental 
villages with none of the 
premeditation belonging 
to the towns which have 
straight streets and well- 
aligned houses. One of 
those natural asylums 
where old sea captains 
come to end their days, 
and to-day we can say old 
captains of finance come to prolong them. Here still flows the 
old blood of the sea kings. '•= '•' '•'' The old salt is the best 
specimen of the retired man of small means the world can show. 
::•■ =:: =:= Very many of the old salts have been whaling captains, 
and have been brought up in the best school of courage the 
world has ever known". 

The evening silhouette of the village as one approaches 
along the Beach Road will, seen under proper conditions of 
light and shade, be long remembered, with its trees outlined 
against the dusk of coming night, the shadowy forms of its 



Eveuiiifi- silhouette of the Village. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 



87 



homes, the lights sug- 
gesting comfort and 
cheer and the church 
spires crowning all, fin- 
ishing and humanizing 
a picture that warms 
the heart of the way- 
farer, particularly if the 
night be chill. 

THE NYE HOUSE. 
On the very thresh- 
old of the village stand 
two of its attractive old 
houses on the two corners of Beach 
Road, once the trolley track is cros 
House, as it is now known, once the 





Tlie setli Dai 



The Nye Hdiise. 

Street, for so is the Beach 
sed. On the left the Nye 
Elisha Luce House, noted 
chiefly for the grace 
with which it bears its 
years which are many. 
There is a pleasant 
little story here of a 
certain village youth 
who, being much fas- 
cinated with the cut 
of his clothes and the 
elegant manner in 
which they were worn, 
was out one day giv- 
ing his neighbors an 
opportunity to see for 



88 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

themselves, when, on passing this house, he discovered it to 
be on fire. Being a deliberate young man, and not readily ex- 
cited, he carefully picked his way to the door, lest the brush of 
a leaf might discommode the polish on his shoes, and tapped 
gently with his cane. When the lady of the house answered 
the summons he informed her in graceful phraseology that her 
house was on fire and, having done his whole duty, took his 
departure. It is not related whether the lady expressed full 
appreciation for his kind thoughtfulness or not, but let us hope 
that she did. 

SETH DAGGETT HOUSE. 

On the right stands the house built by Capt. Seth Daggett 
in 1801, son of William Daggett, who was active on the Sea 
Coast Defense in "76, and who also gave of his worldly goods 
to help the cause along. Captain Seth was a noted pilot and 
was frequently kidnapped by the British, and compelled to 
take their frigates over the shoals. One night he was awak- 
ened by a neighbor with the news that the English were after 
him again and, scrabbling up an armful of clothes, fied from 
the back door for the woods, even as the enemy was thunder- 
ing at the gate. Once safe within the shelter of the trees, and 
congratulating himself on escaping an obnoxious job, he pro- 
ceeded to dress, only to find that in the excitement he had 
picked up the garments belonging to his wife, instead of those 
he usually wore. 

THE "GREAT" HOUSE. 

Along Water Street, just before we come to the flour mill, 

stands the "Great House", a rather large square frame house 

well back from the street. This is one of the very old buildings 

and, as its name indicates, an important building in its day, 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 



89 




Tlie "Great House" 



which was probably 
begun about 1727, it 
having been built 
possibly by Isaac 
Chase, son of Lieu- 
tenant Isaac Chase, of 
the Royal Navy, and 
sold to his brother 
Abraham shortly af- 
ter. Lieut. Chase 
was one of the first 
s i X proprietors t o 
whom were granted 
all the lands lying 
northeast of a line 

running from the head of the Lagoon to the head of Tashmoo. 
The Lieutenant received as his share of this the land now 
occupied by the village. 

SEAMAN'S BETHEL AND THE VILLAGE WHARF. 
Situated on the shore end of the wharf is the Seaman's 
Bethel, whose power boat, the "Helen May", is ever cruising 
around the harbor gathering up sailors who will come to the 
evening meeting and setting them on board again at its end. 
This is a very busy wharf, where lumber laden schooners are 
unburdening their minds, and with its outer end piled high 
with freight just off the steamboat, or island products — cran- 
berries, quahaugs, fish, etc., waiting to emigrate from their 
native heath. 

WHEN THE STEAMBOAT PASSED BY ON THE OTHER SIDE. 
It sounds curious to read that as late as 1830 there was no 



90 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

wharf here, and that passengers were landed on the beach ; that 
is, when the New Bedford-Nantucket boat would take the trou- 
ble to stop its paddle-wheels out in the Sound — not come into 
the harbor, mind you, just slow down out in the Sound and 
transfer passengers to any small boat that happened by. The 
New Bedford Mercury of October 12, 1832, noted the fact 
that "an elegant new steamboat, the 'Telegraph', had been put 
on the line". Now listen to this and hear how Vineyard folk 
were treated by Capt. Edward Baker of that same "Telegraph" 
line, who "had to be coaxed to stop the engine off Holmes Hole 
and transfer passengers for the Vineyard to some small boat 
which happened to be on hand; '■'■' ■■'• it was quite a con- 

descension for the 'Telegraph' to run in to John Holmes's 
wharf, provided a flag was set, and she was not behind time". 
So says the Gazette, which further records that it was no un- 
common thing for those from Edgartov/n to see the steamboat 
go by, unheeding the signal, while they were compelled to re- 
turn home and come another day. Things are quite different 
now, with the village the port of entry for two-thirds of the 
island. 

THE MODERN BUMBOAT. 

The harbor floats a modernized relic of the old bumboat 
days in the "Susie D." that is very interesting. For the benefit 
of the landsman, it may be well to explain that a bumboat is 
to the coaster what the pack-peddler is to the country house- 
wife. Loaded with every imaginable thing that the sailor 
might wish to exchange his hard money for, it used, in the old 
days, to put off from shore, speak each incoming vessel and 
sell its inhabitants sweet potatoes or tobacco or socks or any 
other luxury. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEB HOLMES HOLE. 



91 




Wharf Street, looking toward tliu water. 



The natural chang^es 
of time put the bum- 
boat out of business un- 
til Capt. William M. 
Randall was inspired 
with the enlarged bum- 
boat idea as expressed 
in the "Susie D.", which 
is what the sailor might 
call a floating ditty box 
where he can find any 
blessed thing he may 
want. The little steam- 
er cruises slowly about 
the harbor all day, and no sooner does a vessel drop anchor 
than the Captain puts his boat alongside and trading begins, 
much as it would if a good sized department store rolled up to 
your own door, and you living twenty miles from nowhere. 
Our modern idea is also provided with a wrecking outfit, car- 
ries anchors, supplies water, and can carry passengers if she 
wishes, and altogether is as handy as a pocket in a shirt. 

PETER WEST SAYINGS. 
Before leaving the water front, it may be well to introduce 
Peter West, many of whose sayings are village proverbs. 

It is told how a certain "Bishop" West came to the Vineyard 
from England, claiming relationship to those of the name on 
the island. The "Bishop" was a pompous party who seemed 
to think much of himself, and he soon fell in with a namesake 
who thought it a fine thing to have a real live bishop for a rela- 
tion, and the two were much together, "our distant rela- 



92 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

tive the Bishop"' being introduced about town with much eclat. 

Uncle Peter comes into the story when he lands one day on 
the village wharf where the two were standing. The local 
member of the firm promptly stepped up as Peter climbed over 
the stringpiece, and with the "Bishop" a close second, started 
the usual introduction: "Uncle Peter, I want to introduce to 
you our distant relative the Very Reverend Doctor West, 
Bishop of the Church of England", etc., etc. It certainly 
sounded fine, and should have made a profound impression; 
but whether Peter had heard stories about the visitor, or what- 
ever the cause, it is said that he never so much as looked at his 
celebrated, if distant, relative, but growled out : "Distant rela- 
tives are like distant thunder, the further off the better. Rev- 
erend Doctor be damned !" And up the wharf he went, leaving 
the reverend gentleman somewhat dazed. 

Peter's repartee is the talk of the town. He had been stock- 
ing up in the village one day, but on the way to his boat re- 
called a forgotten errand and stopped in a convenient shop to 
leave a parcel of beefsteak while he went back. Upon his re- 
turn the shop was closed and a glance through the window 
showed that the steak was not there. Peter soon learned that 
the party in charge had gone home, and that he lived "down 
the Neck", and in no very pleasant frame of mind started off 
to learn what had become of his dinner. Arrived at the house 
and knocking he was told to come in, whereupon he discovered 
the shopkeeper just sitting down to :. savory meal of steak. 
Peter opened the conversation with a brief statement of the 
case and a request for information as to the whereabouts of his 
steak. His one-time friend guessed it was in the shop — but no, 
Peter convinced him that that could not be. Then he guessed 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 93 

some dog must have got it. "Yes", says Peter, "a damned dirty 
dog, and he is eating it now". 

On one occasion at sea a sailor fell overboard and Peter 
came on deck to ascertain what the noise was all about. Learn- 
ing this he then asked what the man was hollering so for, and 
being informed that the sailor had a cramp and could not keep 
afloat long, Peter said: "Well, call to him and tell him that it 
is no time to have the cramp now — it is no time to have the 
cramp now." 

ANOTHER PETER WEST. 

A rather interesting bit of superstition is told of another 
Peter West. Captain Peter sailed into the harbor one day, 
and that same evening married the girl of his heart, Mary 
Chase, but the next morning the wind served and he must up 
anchor and away, whether he wished to or not As he stood 
on the deck just before leaving he produced a quarter of a dol- 
lar from his pocket and tossed it overboard saying as he did 
so : "I have married the best and handsomest girl in the world 
and am master of this vessel. I cast my last bit of money over- 
board and begin life anew". And they say he prospered ever 
after. 

SIXTEEN SEVENTY-THREE. 
Gov. Thomas Mayhew, in an instrument bearing date Au- 
gust 2, 1673, recites the fact that land there (the vicinity of 
Vineyard Haven) is "being purchased and like to be inhabited 
by EngHshmen". And he then grants the said neck of land 
(all that included between the Lagoon, harbor, Sound, Tash- 
moo Pond and a straight line from the head of Tashmoo to the 
"Stepping Stones" at the head of the Lagoon) to Lieut. Isaac 
Chase, Dr. Thomas West, John Pease, Richard Sarson and two 



94 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Others. They were at first merely granted the right to settle, 
but later secured an absolute grant of the land which, about 
1700, was partitioned among them. Mr. Richard L. Pease says 
that so far as he could ascertain only the Chase and West 
families were residing here some twenty years after the grant. 
The Indians called this place Nobnocket and Ponit was 
their sachem, and the bounds of his territory were exactly those 
mentioned above, so that the eastern line of that arrow point 
section of the town of Oak Bluffs, which penetrates far into the 
vitals of Tisbury, is possibly the oldest boundary line extant on 
the Vineyard. 

HOLMES HOLE. 
Tisbury is the name 
the white man gave it, 
and the village was 
known as "holmes his 
hole". There are all 
sorts of explanations of 
this name, but none that 
satisfies every one. One 
simple excuse is that 
Mr. Holmes died and 
was buried in a hole ; 
others that the man 

killed in the fight at the head of the Lagoon, mentioned in the 
first chapter as of legendary record only, was named Holmes; 
still others that it is from a grove of Holm oaks that grew along 
a stream that once ran through the village. The first record 
of the name, so far as I am informed, either appears in early 
deeds of property around Brush Pond in Eastville, or in the 




Main from Beach Street. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 95 

grant from Thomas Daggett to the proprietors of Edgartown 
of the '*New Purchase", running from the "Eastern Most Chop 
of Holmes his Hole". Mention is also made of the name in 
the deed of John Eddy to which he set his hand "this 29 of 
June 1669", and which refers to property "lying at holmes his 
hole being on the sixth part of that which was bought of ye 
Indians by Thomas Lyton of Rode Island". But as the name 
is as dead as the folks who caused it, possibly it makes small 
odds how it came. 

VINEYARD HAVEN. 

Along in the early '70s agitation was strong for a change of 
name. Holmes Hole was not pretty enough for certain of its 
misguided inhabitants, who were ashamed when abroad to 
record the fact that they came from such a vulgar spot, and 
they managed after a good deal of hubbub to effect the change 
to the present title, which is certainly pretty enough, if it 
doesn't mean much of anything; but why it was necessary to 
destroy an old name under which the history of the place has 
grown is beyond me. It has seemed to the writer that the name 
Tisbury Harbor, which was suggested at the time, is both dig- 
nified and musical, while it has a better local application. 
When we see Vineyard Haven harbor blazed upon the map, 
it looks at first blush like a case of verbiage, for what it a haven 
but a harbor? However, it is now Vineyard Haven harbor, 
and that is probably what it will stay. It may be well to note 
here that the change in name was officially made March i, 1871. 

LOVE'S YOUNG DREAM. 
The following love letter was written to a Holmes Hole girl 
some time before 1750: — 

"I have languished the whole tedious week in the competi- 



96 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Moon-sliiiie. 



tion of us lovers and yet, 
madam, you have not 
vouchsafed to express the 
least compassion for my 
sufferings, although you 
are the cruel object of them. 
Why should beauty ef- 
fect arbitrary sway, or take 
delight in the ruin of the 
most faithful adorer? Or 
why should such a passion- 
ate heart as mine is be re- 
warded only with scorn 
and contempt? 

O ! let me conjure you by those dear killing eyes that have 
robbed me of my repose, to let me know of my crime, and where- 
in I have offended you, that the whole service of my life should 
atone for my transgressions ; and yet, madam, if you mean to 
make me your victim, do but let me know it, and I die with the 
eagerness and resignation of a martyr. For, alas! my despair 
has so effectually mortified me that, should you continue to be 
severe, death would be a welcome deliverer to the most un- 
fortunate." 

And after all that, she married the other fellow. 

PATRIOTISM. 
In roving from one end of the island to the other, as we are 
doing, it is difficult to always treat a subject or period in proper 
order, and hence a little mixedness and occasional reiteration 
must be pardoned. As we had the Revolution in Edgartown, so 
will we have it in Holmes Hole, and later on further "up island". 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 97 

About the first move made in the beginning of those 
troublous times was a meeting of protest by all Dukes County 
at the Tisbury Courthouse, as the following taken from the 
town records shows: — 

"Entred on the Town book of Records in Tisbuary April ye 
igth A D 1775 

"Ezra Athearn Town Clerk 

"Tisbuary December ye 6th A D 1774 Attest Ezra Athearn 
in Tisbuary by Adjournment on Tuesday the Sixth day of De- 
cember A D 1774 to Recieve the report of the Above Said Com- 
mittee and at Said Meeting the hereafter Recorded resolves 
were read Examined & Unanimously Voted by the Inhabitants 
of said Town And Ordered to be Recorded on the Town Book. 

"Tisbuary December ye 6th A D 1774 Attest Ezra Athearn 
Town Clerk 

"At A Convention of the Committees of the Several Towns 
in the County of Dukes County in the Province of the Massa- 
chusetts Bay: Held by Adjournment at Tisbuary in Said 
County on the gth of November 1774 The Said Committee after 
Serious Consideration of the unhappy State of the Province in 
general & of said County in Particular; by means of Certain 
Acts of the Brittish Parliment more especially A Late Act 
Entituled an Act for the better Regulating the government of 
the province of the Massachusetts Bay: Resolved as follows 
That by the Emigration of Our Ancestors from great Brittain 
into the parts of America of which the Province of Massachu- 
setts Bay consists: When thare ware Uncultivated Regions 
Inhabited only by wild Beasts and Savages in human form ; by 



98 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




The Mansion House. 



their Establishing them selves here at their own great expence 
Submitting to and Enduring with most Remarkable fortitude 
and Patience the most 
grevious Toils and 
hardships. Amidst the 
greatest dangers : by 
the great cost and la- 
bor of the People of 
this province Clearing 
Inclosing & Cultivat- 
ing their Lands here 
(After a fair purchas 
hereof of the Indian 
Propriators) And in 
Erecting Necessary & 
Conveniant Buildings thereon: And by this Peoples Defend- 
ing at A Vast Expence of their Blood and Treasure their Pos- 
sessions and Properties thus Aquired, 

"The Territories Included within this Province which 
would Otherwise have belonged to no Prince or Princes but 
Indian Sachems; or which would have been much worse for 
Great Brittain would have been Possessed by the Subjects of 
Some Rival European Prince or State) Are now with but verry 
Little if any Expence to the Crown or People of Brittain be- 
come a verey Valluable Part of the Dominions of the Brittish 
Monorch which from the first Peopeling thereof by his Sub- 
jects hath been Continually Increasing in vallue to the Vaste 
and growing Emolument of the Crown and People of ye 
Mother country by A Great Increas of the Trade & commerce 
and Navai Powers." 



VINEYARD HAVEN XEE HOLMES HOLE. 99 

• Next we find a town meeting in July, 1775, whereat a com- 
mittee was appointed to procure coats for the "Provincial 
Soldiers". 

COMES MAJOR-GENERAL GRAY. 

Owing to the exposed position of the island and the im- 
possibility of protecting it the General Court, on March 29, 
1777, recommended that all sheep and cattle be removed to the 
mainland for safe keeping, but no heed was paid to the warn- 
ing, and on September 10, 1778, Major-General Gray, with a 
large force of British, entered Holmes Hole in 83 vessels for 
the purpose of ravaging the island. He calmly called the select- 
men together and informed them of his intention and, that if 
any of his robbers were attacked or molested, he would burn 
every house on the island. 

He then made a requisition of the arms of the militia, the 
public money, 300 oxen and 10,000 sheep. He "found it neces- 
sary to send small detachments into the island and detain the 
defected inhabitants for a time, in order to accelerate their 
compliance with the demand". Of arms he took 388 stand, with 
bayonets, pouches, etc., some powder and a quantity of lead. 
This raid extended from September loth to 15th. The British 
kept an account of all that was taken and promised to pay for 
same. But the island was so thoroughly cleared of food that 
the following Winter was a very hard one. About all that was 
left was what had been successfully secreted, and such scanty 
supplies as succeeded in running the British blockade of the 
Sound. The Winter was unusually severe, and had it not been 
for the miracle of the fishes, many might have found it difficult 
to pull through. 



100 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



THE MIRACLE OF THE FISHES. 
In December an extraordinarily cold and protracted north- 
east snowstorm swept over the island, and immense quantities 
of snow fell. After the storm some one wandering about the 
Eastville shore of the Lagoon discovered a large number of 
striped bass frozen in the ice and snow. The news was spread 
and the people were soon busy taking the fish out with pitch- 
forks or any other implement that could be used, they being 
stacked in great heaps along the shore. 

The British had burned all 
the salt works and there was 
little salt to cure the catch 
with, but fortunately there 
was abundance of cold stor- 
age, and these, supplemented 
with such eels, clams and 
wild fowl as could be pro- 
cured, formed the main sup- 
port of the people. The the- 
ory advanced to account for 
this wonderful fall of manna 
is interesting. It is supposed 
that as the waters chilled and 
the ice and slush formed and 
was driven to leeward, the 
fish naturally sought warmer 

and clearer water gradually working their way to windward 
until the shore barred escape, and as their last refuge filled with 
ice, they were imbedded therein. 




Wind lip and down the mast. 



VINEYARD HAVEN XEE HOLMES HOLE. 101 

THE LAST TIME BRITISH SOLDIERS TROD 
MASSACHUSETTS SOIL. 

After thoroughly scouring the island, the British troops, to 
the number of possibly io,odo rendezvoused at Holmes Hole, 
camping for some days just across Church Street from the 
present postofftce. The site was particularly suitable for a 
camp in an enemy's country, though the poor inhabitants stood 
in as much awe of the armed troops as did Rob the Grinder of 
Dombey & Son's manager, Mr. Carker. Church Street was 
in those days a deep gully more or less blocked by boulders, 
and with this on their right, the forest at the rear and left and 
their own ships covering their front, they could easily con- 
struct a fortihed camp that would have satisfied even a Roman 
general. 

This is Manter Hill, and it is claimed that when the troops 
broke camp here and re- embarked from the beach below, it was 
the last time the soil of Massachusetts was pressed by the foot 
of a British soldier. 

The islanders were theoretically treated as neutrals by the 
British cruising in these waters, and while there were a few 
home companies for local protection, such as those of Capt. 
Nathan Smith, Capt. Benjamin Smith and Capt. Jeremiah Man- 
ter, those who were willing to enlist for the war did so under 
some other banner than that of the exposed Vineyard, and thus 
did not subject their beloved island to open hostility. 

OF ABNER LUCE. 

Here is a story of one man who did his share. Abner Luce, 
grandfather of Benjamin N. Luce, enlisted probably from the 
town of Dartmouth, as during the Revolution New Bedford 
was a part of that town, and his grandson likes to tell how, at 



102 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Valley Forge, Abner, who had somewhere captured a brace ot 
chickens and was carrying them to his mess, was stopped by an 
officer who, in virtue of his superior rank, demanded the plun- 
der, and when refused attempted to take it. Abner was a 
husky as well as a hungry lad, and not only refused to let go, 
but thrashed his superior in short order, and his mess ate the 
chickens. 

The officer, 

instead of tak- 
ing his punish- 
m e n t quietly, 
made a charge 
of assault, and 
of course our 
hero was 
brought before 
a Court Martial. 
When the in- 
dictment was read to him and he was asked what he had to 
say for himself, he promptly responded that "the man who 
wouldn't fight for his grub wouldn't fight for his country", and 
the Court thought his view of the situation the correct one and 
discharged him. 

Valley Forge, as we all know, was a bitter school. Owing 
to an insufficiency of clothing, the men were in the habit of 
sleeping in threes for warmth, and drawing lots to see who 
would be the fortunate one for the middle. On a particularly 
severe night it was Abner's luck to draw the warm berth. 
When he arose in the morning either one or both of his com- 
panions were frozen to death. Abner lies in the West Tisbury 




A tisli pocket ou the Vineyard Haven Slioif. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NED HOLMES HOLE. 



103 



burial ground, a strong man. dead at the age of 57, with the 
two balls received during the Revolutionary struggle still in 
his thigh. 

The Luces must have 
come straight down 
from days of old when 
knights were bold, for 
Benjamin N. himself 
carries a wound re- 
ceived at the first bat- 
tlie of Fredericksburg, 
in '62. But there were 
other brave Vineyard 
spirits in Ben's regi- 
ment, the 2oth Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers, 
as well as himself. 
Corporal Peleg B. Da- 
venport, of Holmes 

Hole, was in the attack on Fredericksburg. After two color 
sergeants had been shot down he was ordered to bear the flag, 
and accepted the honor fully conscious that it meant death ; for 
as he rushed forward he called back to his friends, "good-bye, 
boys ; my time has com_e", and so it had. 

THE PICAROONS. 
While there was a theory that the islanders were neutrals, 
and to some extent they were treated as such, the British still 
subjected them to many embarrassments. But the chief source 
of alarm was the incursions of the "Picaroons", as the Tories 
were called. These, claiming to be in the British service, 




Tlie favoring breeze lias come, aud by ones and 

twos and threes tliey are slippiiif? out of 

tlie harbor and stringing down 

the Sound. 



104 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

were little better than pirates, robbing friend and foe alike. 

These marauders usually came in launches or whale boats, 
and a constant watch was kept at many points to give early 
notice. It is said that a watch tower was erected for this pur- 
pose, and several earthworks were constructed for purposes 
of defense. Until recent years the remains of some of these 
fortifications were visible, notably on the southern slope of 
Huzzleton's Head and on the Sound shore about half a mile 
beyond the West Chop Light. 

"The next august the Pickeroone say small vessells they 
had taken from us and armed with swivels and sometimes a 
War Brig would accompany them, about the 13th Sept. 1775 
a Large number of ye above description made their appear- 
ance for holmes hole: a ceartain Mr. Jos. Smith who always 
gave us in Edga'ton notis of the Enemys approach, it seemed 
next morning the whole shore of Holmses was covered with 
men: Coll Barakiah Bassett who Recommended keeping up 
Volinteers and was as good as his promis : a Signall had been 
agreed on that when we wanted a reinforcement he would send 
to our releaf , a great pine Torch was made and the Coll sent 
a member of Boats well filled with men and officers Commanded 
by the Brave Capt. Grannis and the next morning they" — and 
there the fragment ends abruptly. 

WHEN IT IS NOT ROBBERY! 

In October or November, 1777, two vessels belonging to 
Boston Tories named Holmes and Coffin, and laden with stores 
for the enemy, lay in Holmes Hole harbor. Washington, learn- 
ing of this, sent an order to Major Tupper to capture them "for 
the use of the United Colonies", and this he did, receiving the 
thanks of the General for his enterprise. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 105 

THE OUT-SKIRTS OF PATRIOTISM. 

Everything was turned to account during those days, even 
the clock weights were requisitioned and melted into bullets. 
Considerable munitions of war had at one time been accumu- 
lated for the use of the Sea Coast Defense, but how to get them 
safely to the main was a question. The waters between were 
patrolled by the enemy and every boat stopped and searched. 
It was a case for brains and nerve rather than brawn, and the 
emergency brought forth the woman for the hour, for a good 
dame of Holmes Hole village came forward with a promise to 
get the precious cargo across safely. Then she built her an 
immense hoop skirt and, the supplies being placed in the stern 
of a boat, she sat down on them, disposing her ample skirts in 
such manner that, like charity, they covered a multitude of 
sins, at least sins in British eyes, and thus freighted the boat 
was allowed to go on its way unmolested. 

OF SUCH STUFF WAS OUR GRANDMOTHERS MADE. 
^ At the top of Manter Hill stood the famous Liberty Pole 
of 1775. When it was erected the women poured all their tea 
into the hole to commemorate the Boston Tea Party. Shortly 
after the British ship "Unicorn" came in, needing a new mast, 
and tried to buy the flagstaff, and when the people refused to 
sell, the Captain swore he would take it next morning, with or 
without their leave. 

During the night three of the village daughters — Polly Dag- 
gett, Parnel Manter and Maria Allen— gathered at the pole, 
which they proceeded to bore full of holes and then fill with 
powder, and after building a fire about the base of the pole, 
the girls retired to the house of Major Norton, which was 
burned in the fire of 1883, and from there watched until the 



106 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



blaze exploded the powder. The pole was shattered and the 
"Unicorn" went elsewhere for her mast. The deed has been 
commemorated by the D. A. R., who have placed a tablet 
around a pole in front of their headquarters. 

The home of the D. A. 
R. on Manter Hill was 
built about 1825 for Na- 
than Mayhew as a school- 
house. It was later the 
first town school, and was 
then used as a Unitarian 
meeting place. 

POLLY DAGGETT. 
As time went on Polly 
Daggett became " Aunt 
Hillman " to a younger 
generation. A woman of 
strong character and great ability, she left a lasting impression 
on those who came in contact with her. 

Mrs. Hillman had a gift of prophecy or second sight that 
was altogether incomprehensible. Several stories are extant 
showing this peculiar ability. Capt. William Daggett was ex- 
pected home on a certain day, but did not come, and his family 
was greatly worried. Finally Aunt Hillman went to his wife 
and told her to prepare dinner, as the masts of her husband's 
vessel would be seen rounding West Chop bj^ 3 o'clock, and so 
it happened. 

Another time Aunt Hillman saw her brother, Silas Dag- 
gett, lying on the shore with a bruise on his forehead. He was 




Home of Till- D. A. 1{. 



VINEYARD HAVEN \^EB HOLMES HOLE. 107 

later found drowned and washed up with a bruised head, as 

she had foretold. 

PARNEL MANTER. 

Parnel Manter, daughter of Jonathan Manter, and famous 
for her connection with the flagpole incident, had rather a tragic 
ending. She was a beautiful girl, and early formed an attach- 
ment for a young man named Hillman, on whom her father 
frowned, even going so far as to threaten the youth with a 
rawhide. The girl could not reconcile herself to the parental 
edict and began to pine av/ay. Finally a friend asked that 
Parnell be allowed to visit her and permission was granted on 
condition that the lover be not admitted to the house. This 
was readily agreed to, but a certain cherry tree in the back yard 
not being included in the agreement saw much of the pair. 

Here the girl caught a cold which resulted in her death. 
Daring her sickness she had a trance in which she visited 
Heaven and it was there revealed to her that she must die. 
The father now relented and offered to allow young Hillman to 
call, but the girl said no, she had given up all earthly things 
and did not wish to see him, but instead sent him a message 
saying : "I am going to Heaven ; prepare to meet me there." 
She was little more than twenty when she died. 

PEACE THAT PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING. 

Although the Revolutionary War came to an end in 1783, 
and the country was supposed to be at peace, the troubles of 
the seafaring part of the community were by no means con- 
cluded. The United States was a weak sister among the na- 
tions, and pretty much all of them levied tribute in the belief 
that we could not hit back. Our shipmasters were subjected to 
many annoyances, victims of unreasonable and unjust charges 



108 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

and fines, imprisonments or years of detention of their vessels, 
or perhaps confiscation. 

Those who were Masons sometimes found it of service, valu- 
able aid being received at times through this influence. For 
this reason an organization was effected under the name of 
"King Solomon's Lodge of Perfection". A lot was purchased 
and building material hauled to the spot, but local feeling was 
very strong against the order, and for this or some other rea- 
son, the building was not constructed, the members meeting in 
each other's houses. 

BETWEEN 'SEVENTY-SIX AND EIGHTEEN TWELVE. 
The War of 1812 brought much the same distress, though 
in a somewhat lesser degree, as had been suffered in '76. Again 
was the Sound patrolled and the island blockaded, and again 
were its inhabitants put to much suffering and loss. As early 
as 1807 the Secretary of War had recommended the protection 
of the Vineyard by means of a fortification, but nothing ap- 
pears to have been accomplished. The following letter recently 
republished in the New Bedford Mercury gives an idea of what 
our shipping was suffering, though the outcome this time was 
rather more fortunate than usual : — 

"Holmes Hole, Feb. 23, 1808. 
"Sailed from Salem, on the nth of December, in bark 
'Active', bound for Malais. On the 4th Jan. lat. 36.10 N., long. 
14 W., was boarded by the British letter of marque 'Lord 
Cranstown', G'bson, from Liverpool, bound for Nevis, who 
put a prize master and six men on board, and took out my two 
mates and five men, leaving me a cook, steward and one man, 
and ordered us to keep company with him, which we did until 
the 28th, when we parted company, and the next day I rose, 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 



109 



confined the prize master and crew below, and re-took the ves- 
sel, and arrived here yesterday. 

"W. P. Richardson." 

STORIES OF EIGHTEEN TWELVE. 

Possibly a story or two of these war times will be enough 
for this part of the island. Capt. David Smith kept the tavern 
in Holmes Hole, a place of first and last resort for all the old 
salts who were off duty. The Captain was proud of his repu- 
tation for hospitality, but it was hard work to live up to it on 
this blockaded island, and finally he and his son Nathan must 
needs journey to New York in their open boats for provisions. 
The trip had been a great success, both boats had rounded 
West Chop on the return, laden with delights for the palate 
and the two men were thanking their lucky stars that they had 
escaped the watchful eye of the British war brig "Nimrod", 
when of a sudden 
two barges full of 
armed men were 
seen approaching. 

The Smiths had 
rounded up to the 
beach preparatory to 
discharging cargo, 
but hastily got un- 
der way again and, 
making for Bass 
Creek, sailed down 
w^here now the trol- 
ley skims Water 
Street, and so on 




Water Street wlicrc once tlowid Ba.ss Crcik ilow 
wliicli t)ie Smitlis escaped the pursiiiiig Hritisli. 



no MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

into the Lagoon. The barges kept down outside, and landing 
their marines in the bend oi the beach these opened fire on the 
fleeing boats. Then it was that Mrs. Polly Smith, wife of Na- 
than, handed her babe to a girl in the house, saying: "Hold this 
child, Sallie, while I go upstairs and see those red-coat devils 
cannonade Nathan." But those marines were not used to 
shooting from such tirm foundation as mother earth, and did 
no dam.age worth mentioning, and the fugitives soon rounded 
Cedar Neck, placmg its bulwark of sand between them and 
the enemy, who presumably did not care to get into such a trap 
as the Lagoon might prove to be, should they venture inside 
with their barges. The hre burned bright on the tavern 
hearth that night, and there was plenty of good cheer for all 
the old salts who dropped in. The old Smith Tavern, one of 
the notable buildings of Main Street, was destroyed in the 
great conflagration of 1883. 

Being held up and robbed by those highwaymen of the seas 
was such a common occurrence that little or no note was m^ade 
of it, but an escape or a successful retaliation on the part of the 
harassed people was made much of. Such a story has been 
preserved of Capt, Isaac Winslow, father of "old" Capt. Lean- 
der Winslow, and his boat, the "Old Kite". The Captain was 
on his way back from New York with a boatload of provisions, 
when he was held up and robbed by a small war vessel lying in 
Tarpaulin Cove. He was finally turned loose in his boat, and 
instead of going home, proceeded to Falmouth where was a 
certain Captain Jinkins, who owned a wood sloop and was 
ready for an adventure. On hearing Captain Winslow's story 
the wood sloop was immediately put into commission, two 
small cannon were placed on deck well hidden under a quan- 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. Ill 

tity of cordwood, while sixteen of the militia were stowed below 
with orders to keep out of sight until Captain Jinkins stamped 
on the deck. And thus prepared the outfit bore down on Tar- 
paulin Cove, where lay the English schooner, whose captain. 
Potter, was inveigled on board and promptly made captive. 
Then the militia was summoned from below by the heavy foot 
of the skipper, and the schooner captured with all hands. Thus 
did Captain Winslow get back his cargo, while Falmouth made 
merry over the prize. 

CLASS MEETING. 
The miaterial for stories both grave and gay is here almost 
unlimited; the only question is what to choose and how to 
condense it within the confines of a single volume. The aver- 
age of intelligence in these seaport towns is very high. Men 
have walked these streets who have faced death in every form 
that can be imagined and have sometimes been bested by the 
grim monster; and here have wandered some very odd charac- 
ters and here enacted many interesting scenes. The pleas- 
ant, sociable class meetings that used, in the long ago, to 
gather in the kitchens, first on one side of the harbor and then 
on the other, are recalled with loving memory by those whose 
span reaches back to that time. Members from the other side, 
whichever that happened to be, would come across in boats 
when the weather permitted, and the following incident is told 
as illustrating the altogether friendly and unconventional char- 
acter of these gatherings; One of the attendants from East- 
ville had during the day procured some sweet potatoes from a 
passing schooner, and as they were something of a luxury for 
the time of year, brought his overcoat pockets full for Mrs. 
Manter at whose house the meeting was to be held. During 



112 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

the course of some remarks he was making in meeting the 
potatoes suddenly occurred to him, and without changing his 
tone of voice, he said: "By the way, Sister Manter, I have 
some sweet potatoes for you", and continued on with his ex- 
hortation, the good sister in the meantime securing a pan from. 
the closet and holding it while the potatoes were slowly pulled 
out of pocket and dropped therein, during the entire course of 
which proceeding there was no break in the talk. There was 
no thought of irreverence in the action, which was accepted by 
the congregation as a matter of course. It was simply a com- 
pany of friends met together. 

CAPT. BENJAMIN CLOUGH. 

Here is the story of a Vineyard Haven man which has been 
told many times, but none too often : — 

What has been called "a piece of cool daring which was 
never surpassed on the ocean" stands to the credit of Capt. 
Benjamin Clough, then third mate of the whaling ship "Sharon" 
which in November, 1842, was cruising for whales in the vicin- 
ity oi the Caroline Islands. The crew was short handed, con- 
sisting of eleven white men and six natives. On November 6th 
whales were raised, and both boats lowered in chase, leaving 
the Captain, a boy and three King's Mill Islanders on board. 
Soon a whale was captured, and the ship ran down to and took 
it alongside, the boats continuing in pursuit of others. Some 
time later the ship's signal was discovered at half mast, and 
the boats drew near to find that the Captain had been killed 
by the natives and that the boy was in the rigging. This boy, 
under directions from the boats, cut the halyards and sheets, 
that the ship could not be handled, but the boats dared not 
approach, as the mutineers had every advantage both of posi- 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 



113 



tion and arms. Mr. Clough, 
third mate, seems to have taken 
the lead in suggestions, and 
finally offered to swim to the 
ship after dark. This he did 
with nothing but a boat's knile 
in his teeth to defend himself 
against sharks, two of which 
accompanied him all the time 
he was in the water, over an 
hour and a half, but did not 
m.olest him He could not 
swim, as the commotion would 
cause a sparkling of the water 
and betray him, but finally 
worked to the vessel, dove un- 
der her stern, climbed the rud- 
der to the cabin windows and 
entered. She was of old-fash- 
ioned build with windows in 
the stern. 

He then stripped, that the 
naked foe might have no ad- 
vantage in a hand-to-hand 
grapple, satisfied himself that 
his presence was unsuspected, searched the cabin in the dark 
for arms, found two cutlasses and two muskets, and loading the 
latter, placed all at the foot of the cabin stairs. While loading 
a fowling piece he heard a step in the gangway, and some one 
descended the stairs, hit the arms and fell with them. Mr, 




Au ohi timer sliowiuj; steru windows 
such as Beuj. Clough clam- 
bered thiouf^h. 



114 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

Clough jumped forward and groping about the intruder's feet 
secured a cutlass with which he ran the man through the body. 
As he withdrew it a struggle ensued and both fell, the officer 
uppermost, then planting his knee on the Islander's breast 
he attempted to saw his head off with the weapon. The native 
in his struggles seems to have caught the cutlass by the hilt 
and turned the weapon in Mr. Clough's hands, cutting them 
badly, but he finally lay still and, supposing him dead, the vic- 
tor arose. But nc sooner was he up than the other also arose 
and began to slash in blind fury, hitting Clough at almost) 
every stroke — he finally fell, however, exhausted. At this mo- 
ment a second man appeared in the gangway with a cutting 
spade. The officer snapped one of the muskets at him twice 
and finally shot him through the heart, but the spade was either 
thrown or fell, striking Mr. Clough's left arm and cutting it to 
such an extent that he could not thereafter use it. 

Now the third mutineer appeared in the gangway, also 
armed with a spade, and peered into the darkness. Clough 
made several ineffectual attempts to use the other musket, but 
both his right hand and left arm had been put out of commis- 
sion and he was bleeding furiously. The man, afraid to de- 
scend in the dark, finally dropped his spade and walked for- 
ward, and the officer hailed the boats, which he heard outside. 
The crew, however, in spite of the fact that they were told that 
two of the natives had been killed, believed that only one was 
dead, as thej^ had heard but one gun, and for more than half 
an hour refused to come to his aid. His right hand being un- 
usable, he could not staunch the flow cf blood from his left 
arm, and he all but bled to death when help should have been 
so ready. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 115 

Finally venturing aboard, the sailors entered the cabin with 
a light, found the first native still aUve, dispatched and threw 
him overboard, as they did the carcass of the second. The third 
jumped over and swam some distance from the ship, but finally 
returned and was put in irons, taken to Sydney and left there. 

The daring of Mr. Clough, as he was then. Captain Clough 
as he was on his next voyage and until he died, saved the crew 
from an almost certain and horrible death, as it would practi- 
cally have been a choice of starvation on the open ocean, or 
being eaten by cannibals had they reached the nearest land. 

On his return the owners of the "Sharon" made Mr. Clough 
captain of the best ship they had, and many honors were show- 
ered upon him. 
nj While Captain Clough's reputation for daring naturally 
rests principally on the "Sharon" incident, other stories aie 
current showing the man's absolute fearlessness and ability to 
think and act quickly under trying circumstances as the fol- 
lowing will illustrate : — 

Two whalers happened to meet at one of the Pacific islands, 
both after water, and the captains of both proceeded to the land 
with their men. The method usually employed was to float the 
empty casks up a suitable stream, knock out the bungs, allow 
them to fill and tow them back to the vessel. 

V/hile this was being done the two captains, Clough and 
another, walked back into the interior, having seen no signs of 
life, and when some distance from their men were suddenly 
surrounded by a party of cannibals and convoyed to a hut 
where, apparently, a powwov/ was held to determine their fate. 
The place was lighted by a single open lamp made of a shell 
Avith the wick drawn up one side. 



116 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

Captain Clough finally made up his mind that something 
must be done, and done quickly, and directed the other captain 
to begin to edge around the hut for the door the minute he 
knocked the light out with his shoe, while he, Clough, would 
fight his way down the middle, and whoever escaped was to 
bring assistance for the other. Then making motions as 
though his shoe hurt him, he stooped down and removed it and, 
straightening up, threw it at the lamp, leaving the room in 
sudden darkness. With a heavy lignum vitae cane which he 
always carried he literally mowed his way through the group 
of surprised natives. It was slow work, or seemed slow, but 
he reached the door by the time the other captain did, and both 
ran tor their lives, ran as they never ran before. Of course the 
cannibals were after them hot foot, but the boat's crews were 
met coming to look for them and the natives took a discreet 
view of the situation. 

Another time, this in the Arctic Ocean, the Captain had 
charge of a boat which had driven a harpoon into a whale. 
The whales keep along the edge of the permanent ice floe, and 
when wounded are apt to dive under it. 

In this instance the harpoon line caught around the Cap- 
tain's leg and pulled him out of the boat and under the ice. 
He had presence of mind enough to put his hand in his pocket, 
pull out his knife and cut the rope, and then, having kept track 
of the direction, swam under water for the edge of the floe. 
The last thing he remembered as he lost consciousness was 
seeing the edge of the floe just above him. Fortunately his 
body floated to the surface and was seen. 

The Portland (Me.) Bulletin described Captain Clough 
shortly after the "Sharon" incident as "a young man of good 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEil HOLMES HOLE. 117 

exterior and quite diffident in manner, mild in voice and hardly 
to be suspected of that spirit of indomitable daring which he 
so well exhibited in action. In form he is manly and well pro- 
portioned, and is possessed of a temperament of great endur- 
ance. There is about the mouth an expression of firmness the 
most marked". 

CAPT. OBID LUCE. 

Another Holmes Hole man, this time one who gave his life 
for his sense of fair play, was Capt. Obid Luce, master of the 
whaleship "Bay", of Warren, R. I. In 1848, while cruising 
among the Fiji Islands, a boat from the "Bay" was trading in 
the surf with the natives when a sudden squall coming up, the 
Captain was obliged to put to sea before paying for the goods 
he had received. As promptly as possible he worked back and 
landed with nve men and goods with which to square accounts. 
But the cannibals apparently not understanding the reason of 
his return and believing they had been unjustly treated, seized 
all hands and took them back to the village. 

The mate, after waiting all night and hearing nothing from 
the missing men, fired the ship's gun in the direction of the 
village, and it is supposed that this caused the massacre of 
captain and crew. The firing not having the desired effect of 
bringing the natives to the beach to beg for mercy and to give 
up the prisoners, the "Bay" then sailed for the Windward 
Islands, where an American man-o'-war was found and also a 
whaleship, commanded by Capt. Grafton Luce, brother of Obid. 
These returning to the island, landed and attacked the village, 
capturing a number of the cannibals, who were promptly swung 
from the yardarm, as a large fire on the beach and other indi- 
cations showed only too plainly what had been the fate of the 



118 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



murdered sailors. The descendants of Captain Luce still live 
in the village. 

CIVIL WAR TIMES. 
In the latter part of 1861 the U. S. frigate "San Jacinto", 
commanded by Capt. Charles Wilkes, dropped anchor in 
Holmes Hole harbor on her way to Boston, having on board 
the Confederate diplomatic agents James W. Mason and John 
Slidell, who had been taken from the British mail steamer 
"Trent" while on her way to St. Thomas. 




Corner Main and Boacli Streets after the Are of Aug. 11, 1883. On tlie right the ruins 
of tlie Mansion House, toward the left wliat remained of the Baptist Church. 



THE BURNING OF VINEYARD HAVEN. 

A very important and a very sad event in the history of the 

village was the conflagration of August ii, 1883, Saturday 

night. The fire started in a harness shop, about where the 



VINEYARD HAVEN .\7;t HOLMES HOLE. 



119 



bank is now located, and swept both sides of the street clean 
to Beach Street and the open country beyond. At 9 o'clock 
the village bells rung out in alarm, and by 2 :3o Sunday morn- 
ing the place was a desolate waste. The fire-fighting facilities 
were so inadequate that all attempt to check the flamies was 
given up and they were allowed to sweep unchecked and un- 
challenged to the fields, the people directing their energies 
toward removing goods and saving buildings from flying 
brands. Forty acres were burned over and sixty odd buildings 
destroyed. The money loss was said to be a quarter of a mil- 
lion, but bad enough as that was, the loss of household goods 
and the picturesque beauty of the street was infinitely worse. 
The great trees that sheltered the snug little shops and homes, 
with all their associations of love and birth and death, where 
children's children had 
been born and reared, all 
the family accumulations 
that mean so much to the 
owner and that fill out un- 
written history ; keepsakes 
from foreign shores, 
brought back by those an- 
cestors who had gone 
down to the sea in ships, 
or those mementos of the 
Revolutionary soldier of 
the family — all were gone. 
Th en the street was 
homey, now it is homely. It was an unfortunate happening. 
There were plenty of clapboards left, and fresh bright paint to 




Three-master driven tliroiigli the village ^vliarf 
and high on tlie l)each, Nov. 28, 1898. 



120 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



cover them and the street has long since built up again and 
business is bustling in and cut of its doors, but it will be many 
a generation before the clapboards and the paint have melted 
into one another and the street has come into its own again, 
if ever it does. 

THE GREAT STORM OF NOVEMBER 28, 1898. 
It is a pity to wind up with disasters, and yet such seem 
to be the later innovations, for now we have Main Street built 
up again, along comes the hurricane of November 28, 1898, and 
almost lays it low. This the greatest storm of the century, 
before which even the famous storm of 1815 pales into insig- 
nificance. 

The harbor was strewn with 
wrecks and a few lives were 
lost, but the small death rate 
was due largely to the cool 
bravery of Isaac C. Norton, 
Alvin H. Cleveland, Frank Go- 
lart, Stanley Fisher and F. 
Horton Johnson, and not to 
any lack of violence on the 
part of wind and wave. The 
writer can never be made to 
believe that men as fearless 
and absolutely brave as these 
were could be other than honest and true. With "Ike" Norton 
as captain, the first three mentioned put out in a dory from the 
boathouse of Walter Luce and took five men from the schooner 
"Hamilton ', which had gone on the fiat near the new break- 




After tlie blow was over. 



VINEYARD HAVEN XEi: HOLMES HOLE. 



121 




still more of the rlevastation wrought by the 
great storm of November, 1808. 



water; coming down be- 
fore the wind they man- 
aged to make the shore 
near the marine railway, 
where the rescued sailors 
were taken into Chad- 
wick's blacksmith shop 
and resuscitated along- 
side of his red-hot stove. 
The schooner "Thur- 
low" went ashore near 
the old Norris wharf, and 
those on the beach could see a man lashed in the rigging, and 
again the dory was launched, this time being towed to the 
v/indward of the wreck by a tug and cast off. This time the 
crew consisted of Isaac C. Norton (captain), Stanley Fisher, 
F. Horton Johnson and Alvin H. Cleveland. The man in the 
rigging was dead from exposure, but the remaining five men 
on the vessel were landed safely. A third time the dory put 
out from shore, and this tim.e agamst the judgment of all those 
present, and after a fearful struggle against wind and sea, saved 
five more men from almost certain death. The crew of the dory 
this time consisting of Isaac C. Norton, Alvin H. Cleveland and 
Frank Golart. Such superb bravery and magnificent endur- 
ance as was shown by these men have seldom been surpassed. 
As one drives along the Beach Road of a pleasant Summer's 
day it is impossible to realize what they faced; no ordinary 
man, even had he been willing, could have undertaken such an 
enterprise. Some fifty vessels were driven ashore or went to 
the bottom of the harbor. 



122 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



THE POOR NOT ALWAYS WITH US. 
The almost total lack of penury on the Vineyard is notable. 
Now and then some old and feeble person outlives all friends 
and relatives, or some one who is not quite right aloft requires 
assistance, and then a paper is passed around and the unfor- 
tunate promptly and willingly cared for. The opportunities 
for at least earning a living are much greater in a place like 
this than inland, or in large cities. For instance, the herring 
fishery of Tisbury is worth anywhere from $25 to $50 per sea- 
son to any inhabitant who may choose to avail himself of it ; 
then the cranberry picking in the Fall is worth possibly twice 
as much more, while the quahauging, scalloping and fishing are 
open to all, and though hard work is very profitable; then in 




I (11(1 not always stand Idle as this; for once the risiii!; siiu 

Slioue bright and gay on my long wlilte sails 

As round to their work they spun, 

And I sang in joy to the favoring gales 

That gave their strength till my grist was run. 

But now I'm aged and gaunt, and dull must I look to tlie rising sun. 



VINEYARD HAVEN A7;7I -HOLMES HOLE. 



123 



Winter the cutting of ice and fishing for eels through holes cut 

therein furnishes employment to many. 

THE OLD WINDMILL. 

Dr. Freeman notes in 1807 that there was but one windmill 
in Tisbury, but makes no mention of its exact location. The 
one given in the illustration was built about 1812-15, and for- 
merly stood on the high ground of Manter Hill, then known as 
"Mill Hill". The mill now forms part of the dwelling of a 
Summer resident, and may be glimpsed as one passes a lane 
on the highest level leading toward the water. When this pic- 
ture was taken in 1884 the mill was a prominent feature of the 
landscape, as will be noted by a careful inspection of the picture 
"Wreckage from the City of Columbus". The mill was erected 

by Mr. Lothrop Merry. 

TO WEST CHOP. 

Main Street, it dili- 
gently followed, will 
ultimately bring one 
to West Chop. The 
road keeps well in 
from the shore, but 
there are many beau- 
tiful glimpses of the 
harbor in spite of the 
fact that the edge of 
the bluff is pretty well 
lived upon, mostly by 
off -islanders who 
summer in these parts ; and where water is not to be seen there 
are clumps of shady woods to rest the ej^e and make beautiful 
the wayside. 




Huzzleton'.s Heail lias the nerve to call this beautiful 
lane an "Avenue". 



124 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

A MISTAKE. 

This is "down the Neck", which reminds me of Sarah Bark, 
who once kept a private hospital for sick mariners hereabouts. 
The lady's chief factotum was one Becky, and her chief re- 
sponsibility her son Ben, who was best known for his won- 
derful ability to sleep, a natural gift highly cultivated, from 
which no ordinary methods of procedure would arouse him, 

Sarah once had a sailor patient who was expected to pass 
away at any moment, and undertaker Johnson took a lively 
personal interest in the result, so much so that he was a fre- 
quent caller, and at last was told by Becky that the sailor was 
ready for his hands, but being somewhat deaf, mistook the 
number of the loom and entered that wherein Ben lay sound 
asleep. Proceeding without delay to prepare the supposed 
corpse, he clothed it in the black suit which had been brought 
for the purpose, during which proceeding Ben slept peacefully 
on. His feet, however, were refractory, as they would insist 
on falling apart, and our m.ortuary friend finally tied his big 
toes together with a bit of twine, he also propped up his chin 
with a brick, as the jaw had an unpleasant way of dropping 
down. 

The result was so exceedingly happy that Becky was called 
up to admire, but when she saw what had happened the good 
wom.an fell on the sleeping Ben and lifted up her voice, ex- 
claiming "He's got my Benny! He's got my Benny!" And 
straightway Ben awoke and being as yet not fully sensible of 
the situation, though alarmed at the commotion, he attempted 
to spring from the bed, but with his toes tied made a bad mess 
of it, landing on the floor in a heap that further augmented 
Becky's consternation. Ben was very much awake by this time 



VINEYARD HAVEN .V££-HOLMES HOLE. 



125 



and himself added to the confusion with many words and much 
adjectived inquiry as to the reason of his being trussed up in 
such fashion. It is not stated whether anything further hap- 
pened. Much depended no doubt on the relative size of the 
undertaker and the undertaken. 

HUZZLETON'S HEAD AND THE HOUSE OF THE TORY. 

Descending the hill 
that lets one down 
from the more thick- 
ly settled parts of the 
village, we glance 
across the low 
ground of Frog Al- 
ley scooped out pre- 
sumably by the ac- 
tion of water in pre- 
historic times. Here 
is one of those en- 
ticing views of the 
harbor, punctuated 
with one of the Vine- 
yard's old homes which reclines on a spur of the higher ground 
that walls us in. 

A bit further is "Huzzleton's Head", a bold bluff that seems 
to take delight in facing down the northeasters that come 
howling into the open mouth of the harbor during the months 
of bluster. On the southern slope of this once stood a small 
earthwork, while toward its northern bounds stands a house 
of mystery, whose shuttered windows no longer search the 
horizon. Here lived one Daggett, a Tory, on the very edge of 




The Tory House of Huzzletou's Head, wlieie the 
British officers were caiitureil. 



126 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Point Poud, West Chop, wliere the men of Falmouth 
landed iu their whale boats. 



the bluff, from which 
he could see a vast 
expanse of water, 
and here the British 
resorted, being sure 
of a friendly wel- 
come. It is told how 
the English had 
seized a Falmouth 
pilot to take them 
over the shoals of 
Nantucket in safety, 
but before leaving some of the officers came across the Sound 
to bid good bye to their hospitable friend the Tory, and friends 
of the pilot, learning of this, crossed in two whale boats and 
landing in Point Pond, on the outer extremity of the Chop, 
they marched down the shore and surrounded the Daggett 
house. Two British officers were captured, tied hand and foot 
and bundled into the boats, the return trip being made in 
safety. Then were the Falmouth men in a good position for a 
dicker, and soon were able to exchange their friend for the 
captured officers. 

CONCERNING THE HOLLOW, MINK MEADOWS AND 

MR. WILLIAM DOWNvS. 
The "Hollow" just above Huzzleton's Head affords a broad 
view of the water and then we have more woods, the lighthouse 
and Point Pond with the Sound at our feet and clustered along 
its shore the cottages of the West Chop settlement. This 
Chop has been wasted by the action of the currents, much as 
has East Chop, though by no means to so great an extent. 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE'UO'LMES HOLE. 127 

If one wanders westward along some one of the many 
woods roads that thread the back country, he may happen on 
Mink Meadows, which stands for another Revolutionary note. 
Owing to the fact that arms were contraband of war, the few 
who possessed them were naturally careful. 

William Downs, a youth who was the fortunate possessor 

of a gun, one morning visited the Mink Meadows and there saw 

a small flock of teal which gave him a great longing for roast 

duck. It was a risky thing to carry a gun, or to shoot one, but 

he had to have those ducks, and finally concluding to chance it, 

went back for the instrument of death. After considerable 

manoeuvering he got the entire flock in line and bagged the 

bunch with one shot. 

And then came the trip 

home. By keeping in the 
woods as much as possible 
and making brief work of 
the open spaces, he had al- 
most arrived at the house 
and was beginning to breathe 
easy, when he ran plump on 
a British officer, who said in 
a sharp voice. "Boy, what are you doing with that gun?" The 
young man was badly frightened, but told how he had been 
compelled to go out to secure meat for the family, and so im- 
pressed the officer that he was not only allowed to keep the 
gun, but made a sale of part of his bag to the red-coat. 

THE HERRING FISHERY. 
Still further on the way is barred by the Herring Creek out- 
let of Tashmoo Pond, with its picturesque cluster of fish huts. 




West Chop from tlie Sonufi. 



128 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




The fish huts at the Herring Creek. 



The fishery is open to 
every inhabitant oi the 
township who may wish 
to come in; all over i6 
years of age secure a full 
share of the catch, those 
between 12 and 16 a half 
share. One has but to 
show himself on the beach 
at a certain hour in the 
morning to be counted in, 
after which he can go 
about his own business 

and never attend to the fishing at all, those who really fish re- 
ceiving two shares. The writer has talked with a man who, 
as a boy, used to hustle out in the early morning, show himself 
at the counting in and then get back in time for school. The 
money thus received, together with that earned by cranberry 
picking and in other ways, paid for the lad's education and put 
him on his feet. 

TO THE LAGOON. 

Now come we back to the village for the start "up island", 
at least for "up island" after we get through with the Lagoon 
and lound there. 

One of the most attractive views to be had in all this region 
is offered by "Mount Aldworth" as the knoll just southeast of 
the "State Road" and on the edge of the village is called. At our 
feet is spread a wonderful panorama beginning with the vil- 
lage tucked into the cove of which Huzzleton's Head is the far 
point, then the harbor with the distance bounded by the Cape, 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE HOLMES HOLE. 



129 




The Beach Road from Mount Aldwoith. 



the Beach Road and 
the beach foreshortened 
until it looks like the 
scratchy attempt of a 
child that for the first 
time tries a pencil, while 
distant Eastville saws 
the skyline. 

Still to the right lies 
the Lagoon and Cedar 
Neck and more Lagoon, 
and beyond the far 

country which rolls over to Oak Bluffs and Farm Neck. In the 

foreground swells the land, still much as the ice age left it, 

seamed with walls, 

whose stones came 

down with the ice 

from Boston way, 

making one think 

that some giant Bos- 

tonian has spilled his 

Sunday morning 

breakfast of baked 

beans. This neigh- 
borhood is really 

the site of the earli- 
est settlement on the 

harbor, and two of 

the old houses stand 

at the water's edge, 




The Crowell House. Close by stood tlie liousp of 

Dr. Thomas West, the first white owner 

of the lau.l. 



130 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




The Cromwell Tlouse. 



the Crowell and the 
Cromwell habita- 
tions, both interest- 
ing dots on the page 
of history. A bit 
further stands the 
Marine Hospital, a 
Government institu- 
tion for the care of 
sick and injured 
sailors, and beyond 
the arm that was 
once Bass Creek and 
down which fled Nathan Smith from the British, are the beach 
houses of the nshermen, the marine railway and all the en- 
chanting clutter of the village shore. 

We are standing beside a small deserted burial ground of 
less than a dozen visible graves, some of whose stones are still 
in a good state of preservation. One of these reads : — 

"Lydia the Wife of John Claghorn 
She died in Child bed December 31st, 1770, in ye 23rd year of 

her Age 
John and Lydia, That lovely pair 
A whale killed him. Her body lies here 
There souls we hope. With Christ now reign, 
So our great Loss, is there great Gain." 

Another close by bears this inscription : — 

"Here lies the body of Francis West 

Son to Doct. Elisha & Mrs. Abigail 

West. Died February the 8th, 1760 

In the 2oth year of his Age." 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE "HOLMES HOLE. 



131 



"Here Francis lies Departed but not lost 
Like Some Choice Flower Nipt by untimely frost. 
When Jesus shall Appear he'll shining Rise 
Like Some Bright Star beyond the Azure Skies." 

To look across these roll- 
ing fields in the Fall, when 
the little individual huckle- 
berry patches have been 
made to blush at the auda- 
cious pinches of Jack 
Frost, is to look at a pic- 
ture like which there is no 
other. Even the scarlet 
poppy of England's fields 
was never half so deco- 
rative. 

CHUNK'S HILL. 

Now there is a way to get 
across these fields by walk- 
ing and climbing fences 
and walls and dodging 
round the huckleberry 

bushes and through the scrub oak woods and coming out on 
old Chunk's Hill, better known as Oklahoma, where we have 
the length and breadth of the Lagoon for a foreground. Chunk 
was presumably an Indian who dwelt here when the white man 
came. The name appears in the will of Dr. Thomas West, the 
first settler, who received as his portion pretty much all of 
this western shore of the Lagoon, and whose son Peter dwelt 
on the north slope of this hill. The Doctor may have come here 




'Jiiliu and LyUia tliat U.\cly jiair 



132 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD, 







^^^■*^*»" 


^^^K 






. . '^i^iAdW^R^HH 



Cliunk's Hill and the upper readies nf tlie I.ai;oiiu. 



eries were owned by the Saturd 

and that these kept 

the 7th day strictly, 

the crews holding 

regular service on 

board. 

CEDAR NECK. 
As we gaze down 
the Lagoon the eye 
roams the length of 
Cedar Neck", or "The 
Cedar Trees" as it 
was formerly known, 
on whose eastern 
shore there was once 



from- Edgartown on 
account of his reli- 
gion — 7th Day, or 
" Saturday " Baptist 
— though even 200 
years ago there was 
a branch on the 
Vineyard of the 
Newport Church to 
which the Wests be- 
longed. S. A. De- 
vens notes the fact 
in 1838 that many of 
the vessels engaged 
in the Vineyard fish- 
ay Baptists of New London, 




Distant view (if Cedar Neck from across tlie LaM'otin. 



VINEYARD HAVEN A^£i;' HOLMES HOLE. 



133 



a shipyard, and along whose v/estern margin grows an inter- 
esting fringe of Cedars of great age, where the youth and 
beauty of a generation that is now grizzled and rheumatic were 
wont to promenade. This is one of the greatest places for song 
birds that ever was; so far as possible the small boy with his 
gun is kept at a distance and the happy birds are ever giving 
thanks. Across the waters is Eastville, and back the eye comes 
along the high bluff opposite, formed of what geologists call 
kame and terrace drift, where the materials have been collected 
by the action of violent currents of water, such as sub-glacial 
streams, or were formed by tidal action at some distance from, 
the ice front. This gouge in mother earth which we now call 
the Lagoon was presumably cut by a swift current from the 

face of some glacier. 

WEBATAQUA. 

The old Norton 
house at the head of 
the Lagoon is one of 
the very old build- 
ings of the region. 
As far back as about 
1760 it was moved, 
because of the 
crumbling of the 
bank, and it had been 
a home for one or 
two generations be- 

Tlie old Norton House at tlic head of the Lauoon, fore that 

Webata(in;i. 

In the midst of the 
ancient apple orchard can still be found the grass-grown cellar 



iw 










F^ 




^^^E 


( 



134 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

hole marking the former site of the old house, when it was the 
home of the Presbiiry family. The one family treasure in those 
early days of plain living and hard work was Mother Presbury's 
wedding ring, which, too precious to wear, was kept to be 
gazed at by the younger members of the tribe. 

One day temptation overcame one of the girls and she 
slipped it on a finger as she went off to Holmes Hole on some 
errand. Somewhat late in returning, the hurry of the evening 
meal made her forget the ring, and its loss was only discovered 
on a return from the woodpile with chips. 

A long search failed to show its hiding place, and her trou- 
ble was finally confessed, but every effort failed of success, 
though succeeding generations spent many a vain hour about 
the site of the old house, until a youth of the sixth following 
generation turned up the long lost treasure with his plough- 
share. Then was there great rejoicing, for it was now become 
an heirloom beyond price still bearing the motto engraved so 
many years before : — 

"I love none 

But thee alone." 

The lucky finder presented the ring to a favorite sister and 
it again reposed in ease and comfort. But, alas! a daughter 
arose whose love of splendor overcame all else, and again the 
golden circle decorated the finger of youth and again did it 
vanish — this time in the sands of Edgartown's harbor shore, 
where the ferryboat for Chappaquiddick made its landing, and 
its loss is still mourned. 

Here also are those famous springs, where the white man 
and the Indian fought before history was writ, now reduced to 
a state of vassalage and furnishing inexhaustible refreshment 



VINEYARD HAVEN NEE-HOLMES HOLE. 



135 




for those living at Oak BhitTs. The famous "Stepping Stones" 
are here, though under water, a bound mark before and since 
the Enghsh portioned the land among thein. 

One of the odd charac- 
ters who lived at the head 
of the Lagoon in days 
gone by was Jonathan 
Tilton, who died about 
seventy years ago and 
was buried in Chilmark. 
He had agreed to trans- 
fer his property to a rela- 
tive in consideration of 
being cared for for the 
remainder of his days, 
and the relative faith- 
fully carried out his part 
of the agreement, but Tilton appears to have been a crusty old 
bachelor and evidently proposed to have the last word, for he 
had his gravestone cut and stored under his bed, along with 
his coffin, and this is the epitaph he wrote on himself : — 

"Here hes the body of Jonathan Tilton, 
Whose friends reduced him to a skeleton. 
They wronged him out of all he had. 
And now rejoice that he is dead." 

Part of the agreement was that this stone should be put 
over his grave and it was ; but the weather must have been ex- 
traordinarily violent, for the inscription wore out in a single 
night, so 'tis said. 

Another epitaph written by Mr. Tilton is given, as it sup- 



Thepostis ou the line of the "steiipiiig stones", 

a bound mark used by the Indians and 

by the wliite men after tliein. 



136 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

plies the old-time pronunciation of the Indian name of this 
part of the Lagoon — Webataqua : — 

"Here lies poor Jenny, faithful slave. 
Who trusted in her works to save, 
Who has paid the debt we all must pay. 
She lived and died at Webataqua." 

Some say that our fabulous friend Moshop was more or less 
about the head of the Lagoon, but as he always had his seven- 
league boots with him, it was but a step from Gay Head, and 
there is no reason why he should not have been found occa- 
sionally in these parts ; in fact, the small pond here once known 
as the "Oyster Pond" may be the print of his foot for all I know ; 
they do say there are several such prints about the island. 

Such authorities as Professor Shaler and the Rev. Hebron 
Vincent agreed that this island was once covered with pine 
trees. A Vineyard Haven man who is himself 80 years of age 
remembers to have heard his grandmother tell of gathering 
pine knots when a girl in the fields about these head waters, in- 
dicating the former existence of extensive pine forests. 

WHERE THE INDIANS FORE-GATHERED. 

These shores were evidently a great gathering place for the 
Indians; frequent evidence of this is found in the heaps of rot- 
ting shells where they had their feasts, in arrow flints picked 
up at odd times and in a most symmetrical stone pestle found 
on Cedar Neck. Some fifteen years ago the skeleton of an 
Indian giant in almost perfect preservation was dug up in the 
same locality; the bones indicated a man easily six feet and a 
half, possibly seven feet, high. An unusual feature was a com- 
plete double row of teeth on both upper and lower jaws. After 
all the bones were removed the place was carefully dug over. 



VINEYARD HAVEN AT£ 'HOLMES HOLE. 



137 




An arrow point iiicked up 
on Cedar Neck. 



but no implements were found, a singular fact, as the Indians 
were supposed to always bury his implements with the dead. 

In the bank between Chunk's Hill and 
Cedar Neck was found, not long ago, 
what was evidently at one time a pack- 
age of arrow and spear heads, there be- 
ing twenty-two packed together so snug- 
ly as to suggest that, when dropped, they 
had been tied up for transportation; and 
pottery, pipes and all manner of imple- 
ments have been found from one end of 
the Lagoon's shore to the other. 

Along the eastern side of the Lagoon 
the Indians made their last stand in this 
neighborhood. Here lived a group of Christian aborigines 
whose weekly prayer meetings were even attended by the 
whites and graced with occasional visits from Parson Thaxter. 
These were usually held in the kitchen of Massy Mony. Those 
who recall them dwell on the picture of Basha Mony, when 
dressed to receive the worshipers. She invariably wore a red 
camelot cloak and placed herself before a dresser covered with 
freshly polished pewter, where with her bright eyes, jet hair, 
red cloak and flashing background, she looked like some ori- 
ental queen on her throne. 

TAYLOR BRADLEY DIGS CLAMS. 

There is probably no one point from which so much of the 
Lagoon can be comprehended as at Chunk's Hill, from the calm 
of the upper pond to the long reach below. Where the fishing 
once on a tim_e wa^i a thing to yarn about, and clams — well, they 
come even within the memory of the writer ; and that reminds 



138 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




A tore aud aft view. 



me of Taylor Bradley, 
who dearly loved clams. 
Taylor was somewhat 
odd — said he came from 
Connecticut. That, 
however, does not nec- 
essarily make a mxan 
odd, for I am a Con- 
necticut preparation 
myself. 

He accoimted for his 
dropping in on the 
Vineyard after this 

fashion : Being very religious he had dreams and saw visions. 
In one of these he was commanded to go to the seashore and 
take a vessel and when the vessel next dropped anchor he was 
to land on the beach, and as he walked he would come to a 
house where were several girls, all of whom, with one excep- 
tion, would make fun of hira, and that one e.xception he was 
to take to wife, and so it fell out even as he had been promised 
in the vision. Whether the vision got down to such definite 
details as Mr. B. furnished after it all happened does not ap- 
pear of record, but he thought it did. 

Mr. Bradley comes in here because of his propensity to dig 
clams in the Lagoon. At one time our hero needed rubber 
boots that he might secure the basis for his beloved clam 
chowder in reasonable comfort, but rubber boots hung high 
that season and he was fain to content himself with some make- 
shift; thus he secured two shoe boxes, and pitching them with- 
in and without and arranging straps at the bottom he had what 



VINEYARD HAVEN NER- HOLMES HOLE. 139 

seemed at first blush a very good, if somewhat clumsy, pair of 
waders, and they were all right, at least they were all right so 
long as their occupant kept well in shore, but there came a 
day when he went too far afield, as it were, and his pontoons 
upset our clam digger and stood him on his head in deep water 
with the life preservers at the wrong end. The experiment 
almost saved the life of many a clam, but he finally kicked loose 
and got himself ashore. 

One who, as clerk in a Vineyard Haven store, once sold a 
copy of Harper's Weekly to Mr. B., relates that the purchaser 
required a receipt for the ten cents expended that he might be 
in a position to prove that the money had not been misappro- 
priated, should the matter become a point of controversy. 

The visitor standing on Chunk's Hill can get a good idea of 
what a magnificent driveway could be constructed along the 
high banks of this Lagoon, should it ever be really made the 
head of the harbor, as has been proposed. 



140 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



THE STATE ROAD OUT OF VINEYARD HAVEN, 
And now we come to an extremely attractive part of the 
island to geologists, the North Shore, one of the most interest- 
ing spots in New England. But which, to quote the New Bed- 
ford Standard, has not as yet come into its own. 

The State Road out of Vineyard Haven immediately 
plunges into the woods, an oak woods, always beautiful, 
whether it be in the Spring with its budding leaves of delicate 
pink and soft green, or under the canopy of Summer's full leaf, 
or the rich, dull reds of Fall, This stretch lends a variety to 

the drive that no other 
part of the island quite 
gives, and then there are 
so many little enticing by- 
ways leading off into the 
cool, leafy depths, and the 
curious tree trunks that 
here and there line the 
way, trees that long ago 
were hacked and bent to 
help out the wayside fenc- 
ing and have never recov- 
ered from their stoop- 
shouldered youth. 




Ah IliL- iH ii;- WMs bent. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 141 

TASHMOO. 

Traveling thus we come suddenly on Tashmoo the beauti- 
ful, awed into silent admiration of the picture, a picture which 
includes the rolling land of the golf links, the wooded shores 
of the lake, the Sound and the distant Cape. From here Vine- 
yard Haven receives its good and abundant supply of water, a 
never failing spring that long ago fitted itself into Indian 
legend and story, for it has been handed down how Pohoganot, 
the old Sachem who once ruled over the sand dunes of Squib- 
nocket, gave to his son Tashmoo this distant portion of his 
domain, and how Tashmoo, whose mother, Quampeechee, was 
a seeress possessed of the gift of knowing things, was told by 
the old lady of beautiful springs of pure water which would 
mark the end of his journey, and given a white shell with which 
he was to drink therefrom and give his name to the land. 
Tashmoo, bidding farewell to the friends of his youth, plunged 
into the dense woods, where his lather's braves were wont to 
seek for game, and following a trail that led toward the rising 
sun across the level country of the south shore, he came to a 
hill and looked down on a broad sheet of water, but this was 
the salt water of Webataqua, and while there were beautiful 
springs of sweet water at its head, an inward spirit, or pos- 
sibly a larger Indian — it is not quite clear which — whispered 
that they were not for him., and so he turned back into the 
depths of the forest and soon came to that land which he knew 
for his own, a land flowing with water brooks, where he knelt 
and drank of the pure water dipped up in his snow white shell. 

The unsentimental geologist tells us that Tashmoo Lake, 
or Chappaquonsett, as it is also called, was originally an arm 
of the sea that recently (geologically recently— for to geology a 



142 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



' ^-^ 


l^\ „ 


'^^^iml 


. « flHH^iHtaMfli 


■k iriiais"jiigu .. q 


""■'^. ' 




^Hlk'^^^^^H 




91 



West Clioii Gull Links, Taslunoo. 



thousand years are as a 
day) has been barred 
from the open water by 
walled beaches, and that 
this valley, the bottom of 
which is filled with the 
sweet waters, and whose 
higher depression, cross- 
ed by the highway, con- 
tinues to the southward, 
was probably carved by 
the erosive action of a 
sub-glacial river. 

THE TREASURE IS STILL THERE. 

Aunt Rhody, who lived to a great age on the banks of 
Tashmoo, and who died many years ago, used to tell how from 
a vessel lying in Tarpaulin Cove, across the Sound, came a 
small boat with two men, and that they poled up the herring 
creek into Tashmoo and, proceeding to a great rock which 
stands upon its eastern shore, buried a large bundle. The 
strangers claimed, when questioned, that they had buried a 
member of the crew who had died of smallpox, but unbelievers 
thought they could have as well buried the man on the shore 
of Tarpaulin Cove where the vessel lay, or have dropped him 
overboard, and it began to be hinted round that here was buried 
treasure. 

However, while we are none of us afraid of ghosts or hob- 
goblins, few like to trifle with a case of smallpox, and the spot 
was not disturbed for many years, until three adventurers were 
found who feared neither spirit nor disease, and one dark night, 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



143 



armed with lanterns and shovels, they proceeded at the witch- 
ing hour on a quest for gold, and they dug and dug and dug, 
and soon came to the bones ol' a man, when one picked up the 
skull, and as he extracted a tooth for a memento, thus moral- 
ized: "Ah, ha! my fine fellow; once you would not have 
suffered a rude knave to knock you about the pate with a 
dirty shovel. Why lie you here unknown and unhonored in 

your long home? Were you " But at this instant another 

of the trio struck that which he took to be the treasure, and 
with a scream that he had found it, drove his spade the harder. 
Just what happened then no one seems to clearly know, but 
the digger claims that the earth opened under his ieet and he 
sank with a yell to his armpits, while all manner of uncanny 
noises came from out the darkness. The others managed to 
recover their wits, and pulled up the half-buried treasure- 
hunter; but no one stopped for further 
search after gold, but tumbled the earth 
back as fast as could be and ran for home, 
never looking back for fear the evil one 
might be close behind. The man who 
found the buried riches was later taken 
with what was thought the dread dis- 
ease, and there has been no treasure 
hunting around that rock since. 

Cotissimoo, meaning a great spring of 
water, is said to be the earliest Indian 
name of this our beauty spot. 

BY WAY OF THE WOODS. 

Beyond Tashmoo there is a choice of 

roads where the guideboard points 





^ 

'^'' 



Turn here for Lambert's 
Cove. 



144 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



toward Lambert's Cove, and the writer inclines this way, as this 
is the quiet way, and one which the automobile does not so 
much frequent. 

This is the usual attractive woodland road of this region, 
clean and solitary, arched with oaks beneath whose branches is 
spread a variegated carpet of huckleberry and other bushes; 
when conditions and season are right Indian pipes may be 
glimpsed among the lower foliage or the brilliant yellow-red of 
the wood lily, but mostly the road is a bower of living, spar- 
kling green, streaked by the gray-brown of the tree trunks. 

MAKONIKEY. 

On the way we pass the entrance to that monumental fail- 
ure, Makonikey, of which many a Vineyarder can truly say, we 
mourn our loss. This is a sightly spot, the eastern point of 
Lambert's Cove, where it 
seems as though a Summer 
colony should thrive. Here 
is found a very fine variety of 
clay which, converted into 
pottery, has disported itself 
in shop windows all over the 
island, and here is also found 
"brown coal", an outcrop of 
lignite, that at one time was 
thought of value. 

LAMBERT'S COVE. 
Just before we reach the 
road to Lambert's Cove beach 
the highway crosses Black- 
water Brook, whose pictur- 









.. 








fr 


' 1 


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i 


^^-$^'~" 


w 


1 


1 


^^BBMtiMfe^^^B 


• -^^sH 


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1 


HHIHB 



By this token shall ye know Lambert's 
Cove. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



145 




Oaiitain Natliau Smith's House, Makouikey, 
Lambert's Cove. 



is now the case, and 
the cove was some- 
thing of a resort for 
vessels. The British 
and Picaroons fre- 
quently landed here 
for the purpose of 
raiding the adjoin- 
ing country during 
the struggle for free- 
dom and the War of 
1812. 

BRITISH WATERLOO 

Captain Nathan 



esque surroundings 
catch the eye of an 
occasional artist. 

Lombards it was 
originally, but the 
name has passed 
through the various 
stages of Lumberds. 
Lumbers, Lumberts, 
to Lamberts, as we 
know it. The scatter- 
ing little village here 
was of more conse- 
quence a hundred or 
more years ago than 




Lambert's Cove. Here Caiitiiin Nathan Smith saved 
liis and liis neislibors' cattle from Britisli raiders. 



Smith, whose dwell- 



146 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

ing Still Stands at Makonikey, was the foremost military man 
on the island during the Revolution, a man of character and 
ready wit, as the following story will illustrate : — 

He chanced near the beach one day and discovered boats 
and British soldiers who had gathered some of his and his 
neighbors' cattle, preparatory to removing them to their ves- 
sels, and hurried back for help, but could secure none. All 
felt that it was hopeless and might bring down a worse ven- 
geance on their defenseless heads. Not so Nathan, however. 
He donned his regimentals, and with plumes frying paraded 
behind a breast-high beach hummock, and when he had the 
attention of the marauders, turned his head toward the rear 
and shouted to the empty air, "Infantry open right and left; 
cavalry charge !*' The effect was magical. The enemy scram- 
bled for their boats and put to sea, "a jumping at their shad- 
ows", and the day and the cattle were saved. 

THE DISAPPEARING PIG. 
Then there is the story of the woman and the pig. Mrs. 
Luce, of Lombard's Cove, had a little son Joe, who had a little 
pig of which he was very fond. One day when the British 
landed for a forage they spied the pig and started into the yard 
to make his acquaintance. Joe saw them coming and knew 
only too well what they were after, and as the pig dodged out 
of sight behind the house he grabbed it and took it inside to 
his mother. That good lady had no time to think twice and 
no place of safety but one for the pig, and she promptly stowed 
him under her skirts and held him. tight between her feet. The 
soldiers, with roast pig in mind, made diligent search inside 
of the house and out, but that pig which, a moment before, had 
been seen in the flesh, scampering around the house, had to all 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



147 



intents and purposes vanished into thin air, and they finally had 
to give it up, and Joe was happy. 

LAMBERT'S COVE IN EIGHTEEN TWELVE. 

Here are two more, contributed to the Cottage City Star, in 
1883, by Leander Daggett, who was at that time over go years 
of age : — 

About 1813 a British privateer anchored in Lambert's Cove 
with a Long Island packet sloop which it had captured. Dur- 
ing the night it blew heavy from the north and the prize parted 
two cables and came ashore. In the morning the citizens of the 
Cove cut away her mast to prevent "Johnny" from pulling her 
off. After the privateer sailed away the sloop was brought to 
Holmes Hole, carried up through Bass Creek, which then had 
7 feet of water in its channel, and was laid up for the Winter 

at the head of the Lagoon. 

Not long after another in- 
cident occurred at Lambert's 
Cove. David Butler, or one 
of his sons, found his store 
door open one morning, and 
discovered inside four men, 
one of whom had been frozen 
to death. The three living 
men, a lieutenant and two 
seamen, were taken to the 
house and revived, while Mrs. 
Butler got up a hot breakfast 
for them. When invited to 
the table, the lieutenant seat- 
^""*°^'- ed himself alone; but Mr. 




148 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




A fish i)Ouml and dories on the beach, Lambert's Cove. 



Butler, believing 
that all men were at 
least equal on shore, 
stamped his foot im- 
patiently and cried: 
"I command you to 
surround my table", 
and the officer then 
repeated the order. 

They related that 
they had been sent 
out from a British 
brig then stationed 
in the Sound, to 
chase a vessel, but were unable to overtake her, and night, 
with a heavy, cold northwest wind, coming on, they were 
driven ashore nearly perished. In the afternoon the men were 
allowed to return to the brig. In the meantime news had 
reached Holmes Hole that a boatload of men from the hated 
"Nimrod" had landed at the Cove, and a party came over to 
take them prisoners. The seamen had departed, however, be- 
fore the party arrived, and it was fortunate that the adventure 
turned out as it did, as the captain of the brig stated that, had 
his men been captured, he would have laid the village in ashes, 
a thing he could easily have done, as the islanders had no means 
of defense. 

FROM LAMBERT'S COVE. 

From Lambert's Cove we look across the Middle Ground, 
that curious shoal which Professor Shaler calls a bit of sub- 
merged land. In "Letters from Chilmark", published in the 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



149 




Gazette in 1867, the statement is made 
that a sunken forest is found in the 
Sound where tops and branches of trees 
have been repeatedly taken up, and that 
this sunken forest extends far out among 
Nantucket's shoals. 

An attractive cross country drive can 
be taken from here by way of Old House 
Pond, which will land one in the State 
Road once again. Or Indian Hill is 
handy by, though the road is somewhat 
circuitous. But when you go to Indian 
Hill, be sure you get there, for the hack 
drivers will one and all take you to what 
they call Indian Hill, because the going 
is easier for them. 

INDIAN HILL. 
The true Indian Hill is where Joe 
Mingo lives, and where the Coast Sur- 
From here not only is the Sound at one's 
feet — "one of the stateliest Sounds that ever I was in", says 
Gabriel Archer — but all the land across to the south shore. 

The view of the Sound and the Elizabeth Islands is prob- 
ably better from this spot than any other, as this is the nar- 
rowest point, it being less than four miles from Cedar Tree 
Neck to Tarpaulin Cove light. As we stand and gaze into Tar- 
paulin Cove from here, it is legitimate to tell its story of treas- 
ure trove, as those who had to do with the not finding of the 
gold were Vineyard men. 



To Indian Hill. Leave the 
State Roail. here antl follow 
a telephone wire to the next 
guide hoard (which reads, 
v. H., 4^ m. ; C. C, 7 ni. ; 
N. T., M m. ; "W. T., 2^2 ni.), 
there turn sharp to tlie 
right to a disused gate, and 
it's Indian Hill or back out. 



vey tripod is planted. 



150 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




TARPAULIN COVE AND ITS TREASURE-TROVE. 

Seth Daggett, pilot, while 
bringing in a New Bedford 
whaleship, was unable, owing 
to head winds, to enter Buz- 
zard's Bay, and anchored in 
Tarpaulin Cove. While here 
he was approached by Cap- 
tain Hillman of the whaler 
and a sailor, the sailor having 
previously inquired of the 
captain as to whether the 
pilot was trustworthy. He 
told them that years before 
he had visited this place in a 
French privateer, and that 
they had buried treasure; 
that at the first opportunity, when unnoticed, he made a plan 
of the place; that he had shipped on this whaler in order to 
get back, as he knew the privateer had been captured, and be- 
lieved the money to have been undisturbed. He feared, how- 
ever, that when ashore at New Bedford he would get drunk 
and might lose his plan, and wanted Silas Daggett to keep it 
for him, promising that he would come over to the Vineyard as 
soon as he could, and suggesting that they then make a search. 
The sailor never came, and finally Daggett and Hillman went 
to New Bedford, to learn that he had been shanghaied. They 
then believed that it was legitimate for them to seek the treas- 
ure and did so, but found nothing. 

Capt. William Cleveland, when a boy, worked for Capt. 



Booming down the Sound. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO -PROSPECT HILL. 



151 



Richard Luce, the then keeper of the Light at Tarpaulin Cove, 
and he has stated that one morning when he went down to the 
spring for water he found a great gaping hole, from which 
something had evidently been removed. He then recalled that 
there had been a black sloop (it's always a black sloop) in the 
cove the night before, which had disappeared some time be- 
fore dawn. 

Whether this was the sequel of the sailor's story is of course 
not known, but the two dovetail nicely and there seerns no good 
reason why it should not be. 

CHRISTIANTOWN. 
Indian Hill was Chris- 
tiantown when there were 
Indians enough here to en- 
title the place to a name. 
At one time the population 
numbered sixty, but only 
Joe Mingo and his son with 
their families are left. I 
found Mr. Mingo, who is 
82 years of age and as 
straight as an arrow, at 
work in his potato field. 
He told of the simple little 
shingled building down in 
the woods which was pass- 
ed just before the Mingo 
clearing was reached, which was built about 79 years ago for 
a schoolhouse, but there are no children now, and it is only 
used as an occasional chapel. This is the site of a good sized 




Mr. Joseph Mingo, 82 years of age ami as 
straight as an arrow. 



152 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

meeting house at which cne of the missionary Mayhews 
preached, and there still lies in the woods adjoining a great 
square stone, said to have been placed there by the Indians for 
the use of the missionary, and known as the Mayhew horse- 
block. 

The "Dancing Field" is a level bit just under and east of 
the hilltop. Here the Indians are said by Mr. Mingo to have 
held their dances when preparing for war or the chase ; on these 
occasions the musicians placed themselves on the slightly 
higher ground where the survey tripod stands. 

WHERE TREASURE LIES. 

Due north from Indian Hill, possibly within the limits of 
Lambert's Cove and some 50 feet back from the water, stands 
"Money" rock, 8 to 10 feet high; what the legend is I know 
not. And on the Mayhew Luce place near by is a great flat 
rock, under which pirates are said to have buried gold, so says 
Mr. Mingo. The nearest he ever came to finding buried treas- 
ure himself was when he thought he found it. He was plough- 
ing on the Daggett place on West Chop, and as the furrow 
was turned saw something round which shone in the light, but 
before the oxen could be stopped he was 20 feet or so beyond 
the spot. Going back he and Daggett pawed the furrow over 
in very earnest fashion, but found nothing. And that is the ena 

of that story, 

BLUFFED AGAIN. 

Somewhere along the North Shore, but just where my in- 
form.ant does not know, a party of British landed in an open 
boat and legend tells how one true heart, after attempting un- 
successfully to arouse the neighbors and secure a party to re- 
sist the invasion, found himself finally with only two others 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO EROSPECT HILL. 



153 



to oppose the landing force, but, equal to the emergency, he 
appeared from behind a beach hummock, and in a loud voice 
called : "Halt ! Two of you step out here and bind these men." 
And the enemy quietly submitted to capture, supposing a con- 
siderable body of troops to be held in readiness behind the 
hillock. 

THE ATHEARN FARM. 
We will now regain the State Road and journeying on 
through Middletown, or North Tisbury, which does not fur- 
nish forth much in the way of story so far as I have been able 
to learn, proceed down the North Road, but before doing so 
will sidestep for a moment to the Athearn farm, crossing the 
bridge of our picture. This farm lies in the corner formed by 
the State Road and Mill Brook, west of the road and south 




The State Uoail rvi 



of the brook. Formerly it was the Hezekiah Luce place, whose 
owner moved about 1784 to Conway, Mass., and became the 



154 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



ancestor of Admiral Stephen Luce, now of Newport, R. I. The 
farm is also celebrated as the birthplace of Prince Athearn, 
who was second in command of the construction of the frigate 
"Constitution" — "Old Ironsides" — Col. George L. Claghorn, 
also a Vineyard man, being his chief. 

THE N. S. SHALER ESTATE. 
Now returning to 
the North Road we 
soon come to "Seven 
Gates", the estate of 
Prof. N. S. Shaler, a 
man who will long 
be remembered for 
his geniality and 
ability ; his interest 
in the Vineyard was 
unlimited and the 
island is greatly in- 
debted to him. Long 
ago the Professor 
recognized the beauties of the North Shore, and after explor- 
ing its length settled on this spot as that more nearly meeting 
his ideals. He purchased seven farms, possessing himself of a 
large tract extending from the road to the water. 

One ol the farms purchased was the Lot Rogers place. Lot 
was a Revolutionary soldier, but his chiefest claim to glory lies 
in the fact that he is the great-grandfather of Henry H. Rogers, 
of Standard Oil fame. 

Visitors are permitted to roam at will over the place, and 
probably will be permitted so to do as long as they behave 




One of tlie " Seven Gates", Professor Shaler's place. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 155 

themselves. The estate is a delightful one in which to spend 
the hours. I last visited it in the Fall, and finally wandered 
out to where the surf could be seen breaking on the beach; 
there was no noise but that made by the waves and an occa- 
sional crow, which but intensified the stillness. The day was 
showery and the effect was solemn and isolated. No trivial 
thoughts can come amid such surroundings. The foliage, too, 
was beautiful ; all shades of red and orange and yellow-green 
scattered in patches over the hillsides. 

NORTH ROAD SPECIALTIES. 
The North Road is a great place for wild flowers, in fact 
the further west one goes on the island the more the abundance 
and beauty of the flowers impress the traveler. Tansey with 
its delicate lemon yellow flower and soft, pale green foliage, 
an herb much used by the Indians, which it is said always 
marked the sites of their wigwams ; Joe Pye Weed, named af- 
ter a New England Indian on whose recommendation it was 
used by early settlers to stay some scourge where their own 
simples had failed ; the brilliant Goldenrod, also a friend of the 
medicine man, nowhere more magnificent than in this moist 
climate — all are here to adorn the wayside. The magnificence 
of the Wild Rose and Sweet Briar will never be forgotten, once 
seen, but there are so many wild beauties by the way that it 
seem.s invidious to attempt a selection, 

CAPT. GEORGE FRED TILTON. 
Just before coming to the schoolhouse, a dwelling is passed 
on the right, where lives Capt. George Fred Tilton, and thereby 
hangs a tale — several of em', in fact. George Fred, as he is 
abbreviatedly called, is quite a wag, impersonator and story 
teller, and he loves a fast horse and knows how to drive one to 



156 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



a successful finish. But all that is the lesser side of him, for 
he is one of the best known and most highly respected of whale- 
ship masters of the present generation. The following story 
shows why : — 

In i8g8 the whaling fleet was caught in the ice pack off 
Point Barrow, and it became necessary to summon help, lest 
all perish, "therefore Tilton (then mate of the 'Belvedere') filled 
his pockets with crackers and, with the Arctic night closing 
in upon him, he walked 3,000 miles to civilization and carried 
the message he had promised to deliver". As he said, "if any 
one can make the trip, I can". At Point Barrow he was fitted 
out with a sled drawn by eight young dogs and a sail to help 
when the wind favored, and with two Indian runners made a 
start October uyth, the general conviction being that he would 
perish by the way. His feet and hands were frozen, on the 
twelfth day the shelter tent was lost, the fierce winds at times 
blew them from the path, on the 15th day provisions gave out 
and they lived on a few frozen fish and their dogs, which were 
killed one by one. After days of starvation a village at Point 

Hope, 600 miles from the start- 
ing point, was reached. Here 
the Indian runners deserted, 
but a small quantity of food 
was secured, and an Indian and 
his wife volunteered to accom- 
pany him. Then twenty-nine 
days more of suffering; many 
days a single frozen fish was all 
there was to eat. Finally, on 
March 22d, Kodiak Islands 




This is wliat he must live on— do not 
push liim too hard. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 157 

were reached, and a month later he arrived at San Francisco. 

He has been in more than one tight squeeze in the Arctic, 
but if there is a way out he finds it. 

So used is he to banging his way through ice floes that a 
mere hum-an. even though he be a prize fighter, stands small 
show in Tilton's grip, as instance the way he took a fall out 
of Joe Choj'Hski. It was in a San Francisco bar room where 
a company of whalemen were pledging good voyage. A big 
brute somewhat under the influence of liquor, swept all the 
glasses from the bar. Tilton ordered them filled again, and 
when the drunken man was about to repeat his performance 
Tilton picked him up and threw him on his back on the floor, 
and the prize fighter knew when he had enough. 

GEOLOGY. 

Professor Shaler says that "the pre-glacial topography of 
the island has been but little disturbed either by glacial erosion 
or by resulting drift coating. A close inspection makes it evi- 
dent that all of the brooks of considerable size follow at the 
present time the channels they occupied before the ice came. 
In only two cases have I found that the morainal or other ac- 
cumulations have changed in an important way the course of 
the waters". 

It is assumed that the hills are the result of internal upheav- 
als, rather than the erosive effect of the glacial epoch. Along 
this north side of the island are to be found morainal accumu- 
lations which have in places a thickness of from 20 to 50 feet. 

Frontal morain deposits formed where the materials have 
been pushed before the glacier, exist along the north shore be- 
tween Menemsha Pond and Tashmoo. The greater part of 
this section evidently lies on top of the tertiary beds. From 



158 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Prospect Hill to Indian Hill this frontal morain is singularly 
massive. These ridges are in great part composed of large 
blocks of s\^enite and other rocks derived from the main land 
which could only have been brought to their present position 
on the top of the tertiary beds by the shoving action of an ice 
sheet. 

The accumulation of drift on the northwestern face of the 
island marks the place occupied by the ice front for a consid- 
erable period, from 12,000 to 24,000 years. In the central part 
of this northern belt the massive blocks of syenite are so 
numerous that on the steeper part of the hills the bare masses 
of angular fragments remind the observer of ruined cyclopean 
masonry. Over scores of acres in the central portion of this 
district the large fragments are so thickly packed together that 
there is hardly any place for soil. 

The total amount of detritus material in this belt of morains 
between Gay Head and Tashmoo is greater than in any other 




The North Shore hills from the North Road. No picture can ilo theiu justice. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 159 

deposit of this nature known to me (Shaler) in New England. 
None of the large rocks is from a point more than 50 miles 
away, though it is probable that some of the small fragments 
may have been brought from a much greater distance. It is 
possible that this mass represents the coarser erosion of a strip 
ten miles wide, extending 100 miles to the northward, the mud 
and sand which compose the greater part of the erosion is 
largely carried out to sea. (The above is condensed or quoted 
from Prof. Shaler's writings on the geology of the Vineyard.) 
The North Road is one of the best of places from which to 
view these morainal deposits, at one spot in particular two ad- 
joining knolls and the hollow between are so thickly strewn 
with great rocks as to suggest the utter collapse of some giant 

stronghold. 

TO THE UNKNOWN. 

We cross what the maps say is Rowlands Brook, but which 

a few years ago was better known as Paint Mill Brook, there 

having been such a mill at one time at its mouth. In the old 

days this was the aim of many a day's picnic, but of late some 

old curmudgeon has put up a "no trespass" sign at the gate. 

Possibly this is the sam.e "Deacon Frisbee" that Eugene Field 

sings about, who "'sprinkled ashes where we usea to slide" : — 

"Now, he who ever in his life has been a little boy 
Will not reprove m„e when he hears the language I employ 
To stigmatize as wickedness the Deacon's zealous spite 
In interfering with the play wherein we found delight ; 
And so I say with confidence, not unalloyed of pride, 
'Gol durn the man who sprinkles ashes where the youngsters 
slide!" 

But right across the way Tea Lane opens, and here is joy 
unconfined. We will, however, taste its sweets a little later. 



160 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



having first to wait on Roaring Brook and Prospect Hill. 

BECK'S BEACH. 
As the road starts up a long, sandy hill a turn to the right 
takes one down to Beck's Beach, and a very attractive and in- 
teresting drive it is, though we are not going down there now. 
Rebecca Amos lived on the shore here in the days when the 
British were marauding these waters, and the good lady saw 
one day a British fleet headed in her direction. Now she had a 
few pieces of gold and silver that were very precious in her 
eyes, and she made up her mind that news of her wealth had 
been conveyed to the enemy and that they had sent a few men- 
o'-war to capture it. The money was kept in a tin cup in a dark 
corner. She had to think quick, or thought she did, and con- 
cluded to bury it outside of the house, so carefully keeping the 
building between herself and the graceless rascals, that they 
might not see what she was up to, she dug a hole in the sand, 
put in her treasure and, smoothing the earth over, went back to 
the house. 

The English never had 
the remotest idea of landing 
at that spot, but by the time 
Becky decided the danger 
was past, she had complete- 
ly forgotten where the gold 
was buried, and having 
carefully avoided any 
marking of the spot, was 
never able to find it again, 
A brigantine under full sail. and to the best of my infor- 

mation and belief the 




VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 161 

money is still there. We stopped for a moment near the foot oi 
the hill to look down the cart track that leads to Beck's Beach, 
and stood longer than was intended, but now we plod on up 
through the sand, and just over the brow find another turn to 
the right and this leads on to Roaring Brook, a fine place for a 
day's outing, and where it is possible to secure a little added 
provender should the sandwiches not go around. 

COL. GEORGE L. CLAGHORN. 
It was probably in this im-m.ediate vicinity that Col. Geo. L. 
Claghorn, son of Shubael, was born July 6, 1748. Chilmark, 
for we are now within the confines of that town, furnished very 
substantial aid to the government during the War of 181 2, first 
tiirough this son, of whom she is so justly proud, the designer 
and constructor of the frigate "Constitution", that nearly drove 
the British Navy off the ocean. Colonel Claghorn was active 
during the Revolution, having served in that war as lieutenantv 
captain and major. After the Revolution the Colonel appears, 
to have turned his hand to the building of vessels, for we find; 
that the first whaler to round Cape Horn, 1791, was the "Re- 
becca", built in New Bedford by Colonel Claghorn. 

WHAT VINEYARD BOG-ORE DID FOR ITS COUNTRY. 
An old map of 1782, published in "Letters from an Ameri- 
can Farmer", locates near Prospect Hill an "iron mine, the ore 
of which is carried to the forges in Taunton". It is quite prob- 
able that it was from this mine that bog ore was shipped to 
Colonel Murdock at Carver, Mass., there to be smelted and 
cast into shot for the "Constitution" when she was fitting out 
in Boston in 1814. Every pound of the ore was weighed on 
the Holmes Hole beach by Mr. Jonathan Luce, Sr., and then 
shipped in small "wood sloops" to Wareham and thence taken 



162 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



to Carver. No sooner did the "Constitution receive these balls 
than she sailed, under command of Capt. Charles Stewart, for 
Madeira, where she attacked and captured the two British ships 
of war, the "Cyane" and the "Levant". "It was Vineyard bog- 
ore that did the job." 

ROARING BROOK. 
Roaring Brook roars you as gently as any sucking dove; 
those who named it must have come from a flat country where 
any sort of babble from a brook seemed ferocious. Thus the 
name may arouse expectations that lead to disappointment, 
though it is a beautiful little brook all the same. 

Here stands the old 
grist mill, built in 1849 
by Francis Nye, on 
the site of a still ear- 
lier one. When pushed 
it could grind thirty 
bushels of corn a day, 
but grist mills do not 
pay in these days, and 
it is some time since 
the mill has done busi- 
ness, though as re- 
cently as April, 1906, 
the owner set the 

wheels in motion for the sake of having a little real corn meal 
such as cannot be bought in these pure food days. Paint was 
also ground here to some extent, and clay for soap makers. 
When the mill ceased to pay, Mr. Manter, the miller, kept a 
grocery store when the brick works near the beach were going 




Tlie old gri.st mill, Roaring Brook, 1849. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 163 

and there were folks to buy. His rating in the mercantile 
agency book, while not as large as some for capital, was high- 
est grade for credit. 

PRECIPITATE ACTION OF THE NORTH SHORE. 

Doctor Freeman wrote in 1807: — 

"'About ten years ago, a piece of ground, above an acre in 
extent, and near a cliff, sunk in a moment to the perpendicular 
depth of more than 70 feet. It went down with a noise re- 
sembling that of an earthquake ; but was seen by no one, as it 
happened during the night. At the same time a part of the 
beach, at the boundary of high water, rose to the height of 20 
feet, and composed a mingled mass of sand, clay and stones. 
Several years before the land sunk, cracks were observed in the 
ground, about 10 rods off. As the land there is high, the 
sunken place still remained about 10 feet above the ground". 
This place is near Roaring Brook, "somewhat more than 2 m. 
N. N. W. from Chilmark meeting house". The raised part has 
been entirely washed away by the sea. The Balance, a paper 
published at Hudson, N, Y,, gives an account in 1802 of the 
submerging of a considerable tract of land on the western part 
of the island which occurred some years before. This probably 

refers to the same phenomenon. 

MORE PIRATE GOLD. 

There is an unconfirmed rumor that pirates once landed on 
this shore and, following Roaring Brook to the spring which 
gives it being, there buried their money. It would seem as 
though tilling the soil of this treasure island would be difficult 
for the pots of gold the ploughshare must encounter. 

WHEN ROARING BROOK WORKED. 

A Mr. Harris started a brick yard at the mouth of Roaring 



164 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Buhis of tlie brick works, Roaring Brook. 



Brook about fifty 
years ago and manu- 
factured pressed brick. 
He did very well until 
all the available wood 
was used up, but fin- 
ally gave up the busi- 
ness for lack of fuel. 
Nothing has been done 
here for thirty years^ 
and now all that re- 
mains is a brick smoke- 
stack, a great water 
wheel, broken down 
walls, a dwelling and an unlimited quantity of clay. Chilmark 
contains beds of alum clay which yield 30 to 35 per cent of 
pure alum. 

An antiquated aqueduct which once carried water from, the 
brook to the deserted kaoUn works a quarter of a mile below 
on the shore is interestmg for its crudity. It is an abject ruin 
now, looking as though it might have been constructed a thou- 
sand years ago. 

PROSPECT HILL. 

Prospect Hill is but a half mile west, and from its summit 
is to be had another extensive view much the same as Indian 
Hill gives us, only this time there is more water and Gay Head 
lies as a map below. 

During the War of 181 2 a British war brig entered Me- 
nemsha Bight and the inhabitants were greatly alarmed, as in 
imagination they saw their sheep and cattle on the way to 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



165 



British bellies. To fight was out of the question, but a bluff 
might work, and so Simon Mayhew, one Clifford and others, 
got out their old "King's arms", and those who had no guns 
took rails from nearby fences, and proceeding to Prospect Hill 
they took up their line of march around its summit. This they 
kept up all day, appearing and disappearing, until to the be- 
wildered enemy it seemed that a vast army was collecting, and 




i'ldsprci ii)il Iriiiu Ro.'iriiig Brook. 



as discretion is always the better part of valor, they spread 
their sails and silently stole away. There is a local belief tnat 
those whc participated in this bloodless victory received a pen- 
sion from the government. 

THE NAMING OF TEA LANE. 

Beyond Prospect Hill lies Menemsha and Menemsha Pond, 
but we will get at that later from Chilmark, for we are now 
about to zigzag over to West Tisbury by way of Tea Lane, 
one of the most attractive little out-of-the-way roadlets on the 
island. 



166 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

THE BALLAD OF TEA LANE. 

This is how Tea Lane 

Came by its ancient name, 

In the strenuous days of '76, 

When drinking tea got folks in a fix. 

'Twas Robert Hillman, he . 

From London brought some tea 
To his sister-in-law who dwelt on the lane, 
That she might drink and her health regain. 

The general sentiment said no tea, 
And the general public was true to the plea 
To ban the stuff till our rights were assured, 
And the King of his taxing distemper cured. 

When the neighbors called to inquire her health. 
They could sniff the tea, but saw none on the shelf. 
And it was friendly gossip over the lea, 
That Mrs. Hillman was drinking tea. 

The friends all thought the sick should be 
Exempt from the ban against drinking tea ; 
And quite forgot in their gossiping round 
Those who to enforce the law were bound. 

But these in their might came down one night 
And turned the house up side-down quite, 
In their quest for the contrabanded tea 
That rumor said she was drinking free. 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 167 

But search as they would not a speck could the crew 
Unearth of that dreadfully wicked brew, 
Though from cellar to garret they poked and they peered, 
Into tea cups and tea pots they looked and they leered. 

And off they must go with empty hands. 
With nothing to show for their pains and their plans; 
While the neighbors smiled in a tolerant way. 
Well pleased that the law was held at bay. 

And again through the country-side, clear to the sea, 
It was told how the sick one was still drinking tea. 
How when her friends called the delightful aroma 
Swept out of the door as they asked for the owner. 

And again came rumors to those in power 
That got on their nerves and made them glower; 
They were friends of the Hillmans, as well as neighbors, 
And disliked and feared the result of their labors. 

But duty was duty, and once more they came 
From Edgartown way up over the plain. 
And they looked again, but they looked in vain, 
And they asked all manner of questions insane. 

For out in the barn was the tea hidden snug. 
And never a single ugly mug 
Thought to look so far from the kitchen fire 
For the brew that hot water made one desire. 



168 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



So Mrs. Hillman was left quite free 

To drink her fill of the London tea. 

And thus came the lane by its well-earned name 

Though my search for the reason had all been in vain 

Till I found Mrs, Manter, whose mind is well stored 
With legends and tales and facts, a great hoard 
Which she freely dispenses to all who may seek, 
Down in the mill by Roaring Brook Creek. 

Mrs. Manter, you know, comes straight down the line 
Of that very Hillman who from over the brine 
Brought London tea ; and so you see 
That's how she knows the truth to be. 




The lionse Ihat 



Ti'ii Laiio its name. 



At the time of our story the Hillman house, which is the 
only one on the west side of the lane, and is possibly 200 years 
old, was occupied by Silas Hillman, whose wife Eunice was 
an invalid, and the story told above is said, by Mrs. Rebecca 
Manter, to be literally true. She is the great-granddaughter 



VINEYARD HAVEN TO PROSPECT HILL. 



169 



of the Robert Hillman who brought over "4" pounds of tea 
from London. The story has been handed down in the family. 

TEA LANE IN PROSE. 
The story of its naming is told, but the story of Tea Lane 

can never be adequately told 
in words. Starting amid the 
swampy head of Paint Mill 
Brook it offers all the luxurious 
rankness of the marshes, with 
their many flowers and grace- 
ful grasses. 

Sweet Pepperbush or White 
Alder lines the way the mo- 
ment the ground becomes a bit 
firm, its white clustered ra- 
cemes catching the eye as its 
incense does the nostril ; the 
air is suffocated with its sweet 
perfume. Then comes the 
higher ground and close con- 
tact with the hills that the east 
and west roads do not give. It is a matter of common remark 
that a specimen of every wild growth on the island can be 
found on Tea Lane. A few old skeletons of cherry trees shake 
their withered fingers at one, for all the world like some grumpy 
old chap, filled with dyspepsia, who thinks the world should be 
as gloomy as he. Beyond these we pass on the left the house of 
Granville Manter, a man of prominence in his day. 

Near the top of the ridge is an intimate little view of the 
fields that is like a friendly introduction. It is a great place to 




A decorative suggestion from Tea Lane. 



170 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

get in close touch with the Chilmark country, a farmers' road 
little used, and that carriages seldom travel; in fact there are 
many places where teams cannot pass each other, the track be- 
ing as narrow as the road to Paradise, though far from as 
straight. One is tempted to throw the rems on the horse's back 
and let him browse along, and so comes the Middle Road, long- 
before it's needed. Just before the Middle Road comes into 
view the house that gave Tea Lane its name is seen standing 
well back from the byway. 

Around the corner on the Middle Road stands the Chilmark 
church with its surrounding settlement of houses, but we are 
going the other way. 



WEST TISBURY. 



171 



WEST TISBURY. 



THE MYSTERY OF THE BUTLER HOUSE. 
The Middle Road follows a central valley between the 
ridges to Chilmark village and it has the reputation of being 
somewhat rough, but the stretch from Tea Lane to West Tis- 
bury village is entirely satisfactory as I recall it. The second 
house passed on the right and now known as the "Billy 

Mitchell place" was formerly the 
Butler farm, supposed to have 
been purchased and the house 
erected with a find of buried treas- 
ure. Mr. Butler was a poor man, 
very poor, with no rich relatives 
to inherit from, but one fine day 
he blossomed as the rose, and as he 
kept his own counsel and his 
neighbors could only guess, it was 
concluded that he had stumbled on 
the hidden hoard of some pirate. 

TYASQUAM RIVER IS CROSSED 

AND THE WATERS RISE. 

The road crosses the Tyasquam 

River three times, according to the 

map, but for the first two crossings 

one must look sharp if he would 




From West Tisbiiry. 



172 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



discover them. I n 
1737 the Rev. Mr. 
Homes wrote that 
in consequence of a 
long continued rain 
the Vineyard rivers 
overflowed their 
banks and the near- 
by mowing grounds 
were "very much 
damnified". Short- 
ly after the last 
crossing the way 
climbs a gentle hill 
and from its top 
looks down on a 
typical New Eng- 
land village land- 
scape; West Tis- 

bury village lies before us. In 1867 it was written that the 
West Tisbury end of the Middle Road was so crooked that it 
would puzzle the great Path Finder himself to get into it. 

EARLY ROADS ON THE VINEYARD. 
The first public road to the westward from Edgartown, and 
the only one for a hundred years, was that now called the South 
Road ; it was probably the trail of the Indian in earlier times. 
This was the only open road; on others the equestrian is said 
to have opened gates and let down bars at the rate of about 
five in every three minutes. It must have been some such way 
that our friend Mr. S. A. Devens traveled in 1838, for he notes 




Here lyes buried tlio Ijody of Doct. TIios. West. 
Died Sept. ye 6tli, 1706, iu the COtli year of his age. 



WEST TISB4JRY. 



173 




that in going from 
Edgar town t o 
Gay Head it was 
necessary to pass 
through some 
thirty pairs of 
bars, although 
Doctor Freeman 
speaks in 1807 of 
a public road that 
extends from Ed- 
gartown to within 
six miles of Gay 
Head. Apparent- 
ly the two gentle- 
men did not go 
the same way. 
The second east 
and west road was the Middle Road, and last came the North 
Road. In 1807 the other roads were from West Tisbury to 
Holmes Hole, from which branched a third to Lambert's Cove, 
while a fourth ran from Holmes Hole to Edgartown, with a 
branch through Farm Neck to Eastville, the first being the Ed- 
gartown-Tisbury-South Road. 

TISBURY REDEEMED FROM THE HEATHEN. 
August 2, i66g, Tisbury was purchased from the Indians 
by William Pabodie, Josias Standish, James Allen and James 
Skiffe. The Indian name of the region was Takemmy. Wil- 
liam Pabodie (Peabody) was from Plymouth. He married the 
first white child born in New England, Elizabeth Alden, 



Here lies Buiieil tlie Body (It >•■ Itcv'd JNlr. J.isiali Jnirfy, 

who ilec'il iu December, 1723, iu ye 42ii(l year of Iiis 

nge. The iiu-iiiciry of the JiiHt is blessed. 



174 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



daughter of John and 
Priscilla. J o s i a s 
Standish was a son 
of the famous Capt. 
Miles Standish. July 
8, 1 67 1, the town of 
Tisbury was incor- 
porated by Governor 
Lovelace, of New 
York, it being named 
after the birthplace 
of Governor May- 
hew. 



1 


^^i 


Wm 




'^^1^ 


^5 


1 ^ 


^^i 


^ 


^H^^^"**^^^ 




t 



Where the powder was stored. Just to the left, bor- 
dering the brook, is where the British 
under Gray camped. 



TISBURY NOTES. 

Not a great deal 
has been gathered in 

the way of incident connected with West Tisbury village, but 
what I have is freely given. There still stands within the vil- 
lage and on the road which makes for Vineyard Haven a well 
kept house known as "the house where the powder was stored". 
Tradition says that when the island was raided by Gray, part 
of the cellar under this dwelling was hastily walled off, thus 
secreting a quantity of powder, guns, and possibly valuables. 
By the time the soldiers arrived the mortar had dried so that 
the new work looked like part of the foundation walls of the 
house. The then occupant was Capt. Samuel Cobb, who died 
September 17, 1786, aged 96 years. The troops while here 
camped along the brook within a stone's throw of this house. 

Josias Standish owned the present Whiting farm, where 
are located the racetrack and Congregational parsonage, a 



WEST TISBURY. 



175 




combination, by the way, which might well draw comment. 

THE HORSE TRADER 
The racetrack re- 
minds us of an old 
fellow who lived 
somewhere between 
Vineyard Haven and 
Gay Head, who was 
a good deal of a 
horse trader, and like 
most of his tribe not 
over particular. 

Curiosity was 
aroused and much 
speculation indulged 
in when he one day 
stopped at the vil- 
lage drug store for six bottles of hair dye, but all was explained 
a few days later when the druggist saw our horseman coming 
into the village with what appeared to be a fine black colt. He 
was hailed with the remark that his new horse was a handsome 
one. "Well, not exactly new", says the old fellow. "Fact is, 
there is nothing new about him but the hair dye." 

Uncle Joe, if that was his name, worked the horse off on 
some one at Gay Head, and it was said the purchaser was pretty 
badly taken in. Now Uncle Joe was a good Methodist, as was 
also Aunt Becky, and when the story got to the old lady, as it 
did in the course of time, in all its details, the good woman was 
sadly shocked, and raising her hands and eyes to Heaven ex- 



Site of the Peabody liouse, West Tisbury. Win. Pea- 
body, of Plymouth, was one of the original pur- 
chasers of the land now embraced in 
the town of West Tisbury. 



175 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



claimed what a bad man was that druggist who sold the hair 
dye. 

JAMES ATHEARN JONES. 

James Athearn Jones was 
born October 17, 1791, in West 
Tisbury town, in a house near 
the seashore and directly on the 
Edgartown boundary line. He 
early gave evidence of literary 
ability, and studied under Rev. 
Joseph .Thaxter and others. 
For years he traveled among 
the Indians and elsewhere, 
making a study of Indian leg- 
ends and wrote considerable 
prose and poetry. The follow- 
ing verse from the "Storm at 
Sea" is said to be a good exam- 
ple of his work : — 




In memory of Mr. Jolin Peas. 

Died March, 1699, in ye 33rd year of 

his age. 



"I ride along the dark blue ocean 
On the sportive dolphin's 
back; 
And I sink to rest in the fathomless caves 

Beyond the sea-shark's track. 
I hide my head in the pitiless storm 

In caverns dark and deep ; 
My couch of ooze is pleasant and warm, 

And soft and sweet my sleep. 
I rise again when the winds are still, 
And the waves have sunk to rest ; 
And call, with my conch-shell, strong and shrill, 
My mate to the Salt Lake's breast." 



WEST TISBURY. 



177 



He finally returned to Tisbury and lived in the old house, 
astonishing his neighbors with the crops he raised. Once when 
he was working in a field near his home with others who were 
ploughing, the ploughshare turned up a pot of money, but 
Jones, who was in another part of the field, knew nothing of 
the find, and his friends neglected to tell him. When they 
reached the end of the furrow they knocked off work, though 
the hour was unseasonable, and persuaded him to leave the 




Olil Mill, West Tisljury. 



Tlie last satinet the old mill 
made \\ as thus advertised : 

VINEYARD Satinet ! 

The suhscriliei- is now liavinir 
in.nml.K tiued ;it ttic tMctory 
111 %\ ( st risliuiy 1.000 y:irds 
ot the le.il old lasliioiied Vine- 
yard Satinet. Tliese goods 
\mU be far snperior to any 
othei jcoods ot their class, as 
tlie\ ail made of the hest of 
Vmej.ird wool utter the old- 
fashiomd jioiuid to the yard 
rule. It will be shown that 
the niakiii;; of this eelehrated 

cloth is not ail n the lost 

arts .111(1 tliat it can he made 
so th.it it will wear as well as 
1 \ 1 1 'I'liere are three colors — 
hlaiU. lisrht and dark hrown. 
Ketail price, $1.'25 per yard. 

WILT.IAM .T. ROTCII. 

ires' I i^hiirn, y,ir.(\, ISTM. 



field with them, and when nd of Mr. Jones came back and col- 
lected the cash. The story got out in due time, when Jones, 
hearing of it, quoted at himself the old proverb that "He that 
by the plough would thrive, himself must either hold or drive", 
which seemed to fit the case about as well as need be. This is 
said to be the only case actually known where buried gold ha^ 



178 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



been found. Tiring of 
the farm, Mr. Jones re- 
moved to West Tis- 
bury village where he 
built a store which is 
now used as the post- 
office, and here he lived 
for a number of years. 
During this period he 
wrote, among other 
things, a narrative of 
the shipwreck in 1842 
of the "William and 
Joseph", Capt. Elisha 
Dexter (o f Holmes 
Hole), master. From 
here he moved to Buf- 
falo, N. Y., and thence 
to Brooklyn, where he 
died. 

JAMES ATHEARN. ESQ. 
A document has re- 
cently come to light, dated 1778, wherein a number of West 
Tisbury men made James Athearn, Esq., their attorney for the 
collection of any prize money they might be entitled to on their 
contemplated cruise against the enemies of the United States 
in the privateer "Sally". It is signed by Manters, Cases, Peases, 
Luces and others. Nothing is known as to the identity of the 
"Sally" or the outcome of the trip. This James Athearn was 
one of the foremost men of the island in his day. On a map 




Here lye.s yc liody of Mr. John Mayhew, tliat worthy, 

laboi'ioiis minister of yt- gospell to ye iiilial)itaiits 

of Tisbury* Cliilmark united and to yi- Cliris- 

tian Indians, who died February ye 2nd, 

1688. ^tatis 37. 

The oldest gravestone on the Vineyard. 



WEST TISBLTRY. 



179 




published in 1782 his house is 
located, as are also those of 
Beriah Norton in Edgartown, 
and Dr. Mayhew in Chilmark. 
CAPT. JOSHUA SLOCUM. 
A half mile from the West 
Tisbury postoffice, on the 
Edgartown road, lives Capt. 
Joshua Slocum, author of 
"Sailing Alone Around the 
World". During the Fall of 
1907 the Captain was making 
arrangements to leave in his 
yawl "Spray" for South 
America, the object of his 
trip being the exploration of 
the Orinoco River. 
DEEP BOTTOM AND NANCY LUCE. 
A short distance out of West Tisbury village on the road 
to Edgartown lies Deep Bottom, where the last Indian wig- 
wam stood. And in this same general direction, but near the 
arm of the Great Tisbury Pond, known as Tyers Cove, once 
lived a Ught-headed lady named Nancy Luce, who was what 
one might call chicken mad; she exalted her pets to her own 
level, and when her fowl friends died carefully marked their 
graves with tombstones bearing appropriate inscriptions. The 
peculiarities of Nancy Luce attracted many visitors, and she 
had wit enough to make money out of them with her photo- 
graphs and poetry, though she wrote of them: "They come 
from Vineyard Haven and Edgartown, and I feel sick, all 



The "Spraj'" in wliich Captain Joslnia 
Slociini sailed alone around tlie world. 



180 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



PK'" 


P^f 


^'-^# -40: 


'-.-■■ '^ . 


1^^^^ i . ,iM,\i^-s 





The olflest lioiise in West Tisbury village, known as 
tlie John E.Johnson house. 



my time murdered 
so much." One of 
her orders for fuel 
was "2 barrels coke 
cole, that sort the 
kerosene is all took 
out of it". 

GEOLOGY. 
The south side of 
the island is largely 
composed of what 
the geologist calls 
terrace deposits; 
that is, the finer ma- 
terial brought down 
by the glaciers and formed by tidal action or by the action of 
the v/aves at some distance from the ice front. On the Vineyard 
this has resulted in a nearly flat surface cast in gentle undula- 
tions, through which run shallow valleys that extend from the 
base of the kame deposits, of coarser material, in a nearly 
southerly direction to the shore line, these generally termin- 
ating in the various ponds or coves which indent the southern 
shore of the island. The only explanation which can be given 
of these troughs is that they were the channels through which 
the sub-glacial streams found their way seaward. 

The Vineyard was under possibly 300 feet of water when 
this was going on, the whole being suddenly elevated by 
"mountain-building forces", for if exposed to the action of the 
waves, for even a month, much of the sand formation now ex- 
tant would have been destroyed. 



WEST TISBUJ^Y. 



181 



EARTHQUAKES ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

It is interesting to note in this connection that the Diary 

of Rev, William Homes records in 1727, and again in 1737, that 

earthquake shocks were felt on the island, of the first of which 

he says "it was considerably great". 

PROFESSOR SHALER DESCRIBES THIS PART OF THE ISLAND. 
Professor Shaler wrote much of this part of the island, and 
he knew his subject so well and his rendering of the English 
language is so beautiful that I am tempted to quote at length 
from an article of his which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly 
of December, 1874. He says: — 

"To the south (from West Tisbury) the valley sinks in 
widening fields that merge in a vast open wold. The beautiful 
brook which gathers its pure waters in the hills to the west- 
ward, and becomes in 
a few miles a little 
river, expands into a 
great pond with ir- 
regular shores and a 
narrow channel, 
through which it es- 
capes into the sea. 
=:= * * The air here 
is of liquid purity, 
though lucent from 
the great store of 
moisture it receives. 
:;: - :!: ^he soft air, 
the broad smooth 
fields, the rounded 




Ou tlie Soiitli Road. Tlie HaiiiuUi IjOok hoiisu, a 

gay, dasbing widow witli plenty of money. 

Known as tlie "Queen". 



182 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

domes of foliage, and the universal green, together with the 
drowse in w^hich all is steeped, carries us irresistibly to our 
'old home'. It needs the glaring white of yon church tower, 
which comes as a tower should from the leafy tents of some 
noble trees, to tell us that it is in the kingdom of white-painted 
New England that this scene belongs. " '■'■' ■'■' 

"From all points this island is more like the Isle of Wight 
than things are often like each other in this world. •'= '■'•' '-' 

"A little mill sits astride the dancing brook with a business- 
like air, but the grass and bushes of many years' growth gath- 
ered around its doors suggest anything but work. * =•= * 

"Some of the fields of maize and wheat are as good as one 
finds in the Connecticut Valley. I have never seen better 
ground for the gardener. Strawberries grow as in Southern 
France ; roses have a glory unattainable anywhere else in New 
England. 

"The Summer climate at least is the freest from exaspera- 
tion, the most calming I have ever felt, without producing las- 
situde. It brings a physical repose which it is impossible to 
get in our mountains or northern seashores. * * * 

"The expectancy of life is about doLible what it is in Bos- 
ton. =•= ■•' * 

"From. Tisbury westward we have a range of hills, monu- 
ments to the old glacial sheet which once bridged the gap be- 
tween the island and the main shore. Over it were carried the 
enormous boulders of puddingstone and syenite from the 
neighborhood of Boston and other parts of the continent to the 

northward." 

"TISBURY RIVER." 

Professor Shaler speaks of the "Tisbury River", the bed of 



WEST TISBURY. 183 

which tan plainly be seen on the left as one leaves the village 
of West Tisbury for Vineyard Haven by the road across the 
plains, as the largest of those excavated thousands of years ago. 
This, he says, is about one-third of a mile wide and more than 
100 feet deep (the actual depth showing to-day is probably 
5 to 6 feet, as indicated by the west bank). "Upon this normal 
and well-developed topography, which indicates a continuance 
of stream erosion that must have occupied a period to be meas- 
ured by tens of thousands of years, came the glacier of the last 
ice epoch. " =•' " The ice sheet failed to obliterate many de- 
tails of the topography which were due to differential erosion 
before the advent of the glacier." 



184 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



CHILMARK. 



ON THE SOUTH ROAD. 

The South Road out of 
West Tisbury is in the begin- 
ning much Hke other Vine- 
yard roads until we come 
within sight of Chilmark 
Pond and the ocean and then 
begins a wonderful living, 
moving picture. A fore- 
ground of pasture lands dot- 
ted with sheep and occasional 
homes, with here and there a 
well or some other homely 
suggestion off in a field by it- 
self. Beyond are the quiet 
waters of the pond, the strip 
of sand beach and the limit- 
less Atlantic, a vast desolation where no living thing shows, 
and yet a silver sea with the bright sun on it, sparkling and 
flashing with every breath of air. Though solitary enough now, 
there have been moving pictures of great excitement within 

sight of this shore. 

CHASED BY A PRIVATEER. 

From "Voyages of an Old Sea Captain" we have the f ollow- 




Door ot tlic only deserted liouse on the 
Sonth Road. 



CHILMARK. 185 

ing Story, told by Capt. Jeremiah Holmes himself. In 1813 
Captain Holmes, a Connecticut sailorman, was given the com- 
mand of the famous sloop "Hero*', in which he left Charleston 
with a load of cotton and other articles for the north in Febru- 
ary, 1813, and dodged the English blockading squadron until 
near No Man's Land, when "I discovered a brig on my weather 
quarter", and "at once spread all my canvass and squared away 
before the wind. The brig came bounding after me. "^^ * * 
I now made two English frigates directly on my bow. '■' ''' 

I jibed and stood to the eastward * * ■- but I shortly headed 
toward Martha's Vineyard. 

"The wind now died away, and we were close in to No 
Man's Land. The brig lowered her boat armed with m.uskets 
and prosecuted the chase". The small "boat pressed so closely 
upon me that the man in her bow with a musket fired upon me 
and put a number of balls through my sails. But for my con- 
sideration this bowsman would have lost his life. I had three 
passengers on board : one of these was a Mr. Spencer, of Ver- 
mont, who had a prime rifle, and proposed to prove his expert- 
ness with his piece at the same time that he should evince his 
patriotism by laying this armed bowsman in the bottom of the 
boat. I requested a little delay. Counting upon what might 
occur, I m.ade the "Hero" ready for defense. I said to my pas- 
sengers : 'Now, gentlemen, you have got to fight or go to 
Halifax.' We had no relish for Halifax. I had the men and 
passengers at work at once, and I locked the companionway to 
hold all the strength on deck. We arranged the bales of cot- 
ton in tiers like a bulwark. I then had a quantity of ballast 
stones and all available arms ready to give the privateer a 
suitable reception. Fortunately, however, at this moment, when 



186 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD, 



affairs were about to come to arms, a breeze sprung up, and I 
scon left the assailant with no other choice than to return to 
the brig. 

"I now ran between No Man's Land and a reef and stood 
on to the northward. The brig dared not follow, but remained 
outside and was becalmed. 

'The brig (an English privateer, the 'Sir John Sherbrook') 
had an American Jack from her fore-topgallant masthead for a 
pilot. '•' '•' '•' Nearing land we fell in with a number of small 
fishing vessels. One of these, the smack 'Fair Haven', of Ed- 
gartown, ran down and furnished the brig with a pilot." 




'The great waves roll witli Sdleiiin re<riilarity dii the shore; tliey are never still.' 



CHILMARK. 187 

THE SOUTH SHORE. 
These fields we are looking across are down on the map of 
1782, before referred to, as "the best mowing grounds in the 
island, yielding four tons of black grass per acre". Of this 
South Shore we will again quote from Professor Shaler, who 
writes that it "is beaten by the surges which can roll directly 
down upon it from 6,000 miles of water. =■= '•' '■'•' The great 
waves roll with solemn regularity on the shore ; they are never 
still. In a calm they are stately waves; in the usual Summer 
weather they sweep up and down the slope like the swinging 
of some mJghty pendulum. When the storm drives them they 
dash like wild beasts up the rampart of the beach, and clutch 
over it at the land. Wherever we are on the island, their cease- 
less tramp will at times each day, and through the whole night, 
master all the lesser sounds, and fill us with the sombre mono- 
tone." 

STONE FOR FENCING. 

As long ago as '67 there were 40 miles of stone walls in 
Chilmark, these walls where they surmount the hills and sil- 
houette against the sky, being made almost entirely of round 
stones, look like the fancy filament of a queen's crown and add 
not a little to the landscape. Mr. J. Hector St. John made the 
great and interesting discovery in 1782 that "Chilmark contains 
stone for fencing" ! 

EXPERIENCE MAYHEW HOUSE. 

Betvv^een Queenames and Quansoo stands the old Experi- 
ence Mayhew house, the oldest Mayhew house in Chilmark, 
now knov*;n as the Whiting place. Here once lived William 
Mayhew, and to his house some 50 to 75 years ago came two 
sailors for shelter, and they worked all night digging, sup- 



188 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



posedly for treasure. Their story will be told when we reach 

Squibnocket, 

OF FISHING. 

But there are other torms 
of wealth here besides that 
buried in the ground by man, 
and it comes quite as unex- 
pectedly at times as would 
the discovery of pirate gold. 
So recently as December of 
last year 20 barrels of perch 
were shipped from Chilmark, 
and as a previous shipment 
had netted at the rate of $25 
a barrel, that is quite a nice 
little sum of money to find, 
for it was about as accidental 
a find as could happen. "The 
fishermen had seined the 
pond twice with no success. At last they put the seine in the 
pond to clear it and then to go home, and drawing it to the 
shore, to their astonishment the net was filled with fish." It 
was indeed a miraculous draught. 

"TYSBURY MANNOR." 

"Tysbury Mannor" was incorporated by Governor Love- 
lace on July 8, 1671, as well as Edgartown and Tisbury. This 
Manor contained several parcels of land, which had been pur- 
chased of the Indians by Thom.as Mayhew, "together with two 
of the Elizabeth Islands. =•= =•' ■' and several other small and 
inconsiderable islands in Monument Bay". All of these lands 




The Cliilmark Clitts. In the dim distauee 
Squibnocket. 



CHILMARK. 



189 



lying westward of the Tisbury town line were embraced in the 
town of Chilmark upon its incorporation in 17 14. Chilmark 
adjoins Tisbury on the Vineyard even as it does in England. 
The name was evidently in use a long time previous to its in- 
corporation, as old documents refer to "The Manor of Tisbury 
alias Chilmark'". 

HERE ALSO CAME THE BRITISH. 

A Chilmark echo of the Revolution is found in the Acts and 
Laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of 1784-5: — 
"June 10, 1785, On the petition of Elijah Smith of Chilmark 

* * =•• Collector of taxes for the year 1777 =•■ '■'■' '■'■' that he 
had collected thereon about £390 which was taken from him 

* V * by a British officer, who carried them off. 
"Resolved, that the Treas- 
urer be * '•' "' ordered to 
credit the said Elijah Smith 
the sum of £390", etc. 

And again, "Oct. 28, 1785. 

The petition of Ezra Tilton, 

Collector for the town of 

Chilmark, was granted; it 

setting forth that in June, 

1782, he was forced by the 

enemy to deliver up his tax 

lists, warrants, and £150 in 

money which be placed to 

his credit." 

WINDYGATES. 

As we enter Chilmark vil- 
lage, a road is seen leading 




Looking east alonp tlic Cliilniark ClilVs. 



190 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



to the Summer estate known as "Windygates", which covers 
the bluffs of Wesquabsque or Chilmark CUffs, from which can 
be had a magnificent survey of the ocean — far, vast and dim. 
The cHffs lack the colors of Gay Head, but are quite as won- 
derful, "rough, full of gullies and crevices, steep, wild and 
irregular in their appearance", while the undulating land above 
is being rapidly redeemed from a windswept sand dune by the 
judicious planting of trees, shrubs and groundlings, heather, 
broom and the hardier grasses that will tie the sand down. 

THE WASTING OF THE CHILMARK CLIFFS. 
Professor Whiting noted that during the forty years be- 
tween 1846-86, a period during which he frequently surveyed 
the island, the shore in the central part of these cliffs moved 
into the island 220 feet, an average of 5^ feet per annum. The 
detritus from these cliffs forms the extensive shoals and 

beaches along the 
South Shore. While 
it is not safe to con- 
sider the various evi- 
dences of erosion as 
indicating the long 
continued wearing 
of the land at any- 
thing like such a 
rate as is now going 
on, still Doctor Free- 
man notes in 1807 
that "this part of 
the shore, from cer- 
tain marks, is known 




Peculiar inarkiii'; 



in the sldiiiii;;- saiiils of Cliiliiiark 
Clitts. 



CHILMARK. 



191 



to have lost a half mile in breadth in the course of 8d or go 
years". 

A tradition is said to exist that loo years ago it was possible 
to skate from Tisbury Pond to Edgartown village along the 
line of connected bays that are now separated into individual 
ponds, but the map of 1782 does not support such tradition, 
and it may be that the tradition goes back 200 years. 




Foiiner lioiue of Deacou 
Simon Mayliew wlio was 16 
years tutor at Harvard, 
several years a preacher of 
the gospel, a member of the 
Contiuental Cougress, aud 
at tlie time of his death, 
March 31, 1782, Chief 
Judge in the County of 
Dukes County. 



Kiiiiwu as tlie Herman Vincent House, Cliilniark 



CHILMARK VILLAGE. 
Chilmark village was formerly known as Beetle Bung Cor- 
ners for here grew hornbeam trees the wood of which was 
turned into beetles. One of the most prominent features as 
one approaches the village is Sugarloaf Rock, which is the 
chief diadem of a stone wall circlet that crowns a nearby hilltop. 



192 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




MosUop's betl and pillows. Originally the pillows 

lay on the bed as they were placed when 

the iilacier made It up. 



MOSHOP'S BED AND PILLOWS. 
One of the most pe- 
culiar of the large 
rocks on the island is 
known as the "Devil's 
bed and pillows", to 
reach which from the 
village we take the 
North Road back a half 
mile or so, and after 
passing the first house 
on the west or north, 
ascending a brief hill 
and dipping down to 

the bottom of the next hollow we stop at a pair of bars on the 

left and climb these 

and the hill straight 

up to a stone wall 

that loom.s overhead, 

so stiff is the upness 

of the hill. And just 

over this wall do we 

find the Old Boy's 

resting place with 

the pillows on the 

ground at its head 

and the bolster ly- 
ing off by its side. 

The odd combina- 
tion of the flat rock 




In Chilmaik village. The sclioolhouse and Elliott 
Mayhew's store. 



CHILMARK. 193 

about 30 feet long, with its rounded edges, which was presum- 
ably rafted to the spot by ice and the two singularly round 
"pillow" stones that once stood on one end of the "bed'' is very 
striking. 

Professor Shaler believed that the distribution of the drift 
in the southern part of Martha's Vineyard is such as to sug- 
gest that "the glacier did not, save in certain small, tongue-like 
projections, extend south of Tisbury River", and that the drift 
south of that stream was all ice-rafted to its present site, while 
the island was under water, for such materials appear on its 
very highest land. 

This part of the hilltop — Peaked Hill — is a wilderness of 
tumbled stones, and looks as though old Moshop might have 
dusted them out of his salt-shaker some time when the earth 
needed a great deal of seasoning. The numerous walls attest 
the number of lesser stones, while the fields are strewn thick 
with the greater ones. Down in the valley, from whence we 
came, is or was Balanced or Cradle rock, but some inquisitive 
gentleman with a crowbar once thought to have the secret of 
its rocking motion and so completely upset was the stone that 
it has never quite regained its equilibrium. 

THE VIEW FROM PEAKED HILL. 
Peaked Hill is 311 feet high, being superior to Prospect Hill 
by 3 feet, and being in the centre of things it furnishes forth a 
much more extended view, covering a tremendous reach of 
water and land. Far to the east and south sweeps the Atlantic, 
whose surges thunder at our very feet, while the waves of the 
ocean are continued by the waves of the land, very little of 
which is level. Chilmark Cliffs and distant No Man's Land 
stand out in the strong glint of sun and water. 



194 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Squibnocket, Gay Head, Menemsha Bight and the Sound, 
Cuttyhunk and other of the Elizabeth Islands all follow as one 
swings from south to west and north, while across the level 
plains toward the east gleam the white homes of West Tisbury. 

MENEMSHA. 

The road for the picturesque fishing village of Menemsha 
starts from Chilmark postofFxe. It looks on the map as though 
the South Road had taken it into its head to go north. Here 
the fields are covered with drying nets, when they are not in 
use, and "old sea captains looking like the animated figureheads 
of old-fashioned ships" everywhere abound. The Pond is an- 
other of those arms of the sea shut in by a walled beach of sand 
and forming a snug harbor for the small boats engaged in fish- 
ing outside. Its shores are cluttered with dories and piles of 
lobster pots, and in fact all sorts of interesting fishing appli- 
ances. While down the shore of the Bight lies Lobsterville, 

whose cause of being is 
so well told in its name 
that no further explana- 
tion is needed. 

Mr, Edward Augustus 
Kendall, who explored 
the island in 1807, gives 
his theory of the mean- 
ing of Menemsha as 
being probably on ac- 
count of the cranberries 
that cover its marshy 
borders : " Monamsha 
or Minamsha: minac, 



mi"»' .-^jg-qilMg^lcaZi 




^mm^'-^^f^ 



Eel pots .sunning on the beach 



CHILMARK. 



195 




Looking out of MenemsUa Creek. 



in some of the Algon- 
quin dialects signifies 
berry." 

While prying into the 
secrets of Menemsha's 
past, I gathered a few- 
stray items such as that 
of Tristram Allen, Brit- 
ish officer, who came 
ashore here for a pilot 
The man he saw knew 
a pilot and said so, but 
declined to give his 

name, as he was in no mood to help the enemies of his coun- 
try. However, he was no churl, and invited the officer to dine. 
On the table was some green corn which the Englishman had 
never before seen, and was slow to partake of lest it be poison. 

They tell of a colored man who, standing on some one of 
these hills, did not believe that ships could shoot so far, and 
contemptuously turned his back on the firing Britisher, when 
along came a cannon ball and killed him so quick that he had 
no opportunity to change his belief, and they even yet mourn 
over the wasted evidence. 

Then there was a Mr. Lumbert whose oxen were taken by 
the British and put in a corral with many others, preparatory 
to being moved on shipboard, when one particularly dark 
night Mr. L. visited the corral and quietly cut out his animals 
without disturbing the guard. 

SNARLY HAIRED INDIANS. 
From Chilmark village on the road sways up and down 



196 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




What the ice-age did to Chilmark. Could anytliiu^ 
t)e boulder ! 



hill, and continues 

through the same 

delightful country 

that we have all 

along been enjoying, 

but the extreme 

beauty disappears as 

one penetrates Gay 

Head, where for 

some distance it is 

sandy roads and 

brushy roadsides, and even after we are out in the open again, 

the weather stained dv/elhngs of the "snarly haired" Indians 

by the way are particularly unattractive. 

It seems that a hundred years or so ago the Indians were 
all straight haired, but a certain squaw got into bad com- 
pany consorting much with witches and other adepts of the 
black art. Her curiosity, however, finally led her too far, and 
there came a time when she saw more than her friends thought 
good, whereupon the witches clawed her hair over her eyes and 
snarled it all up, and ever after the race has been snarly haired. 
But we are getting ahead of our story for we are not quite 
in Gay Head yet. The road passes between Stone Wall Pond 
and Nashaquitsa Pond to "Quitsa" — short for Nashaquitsa or 
Nashaqueedsee, meaning "between two waters" — from whence 
we look across to Squibnocket, where stands the life saving 
station on Money Hill, presumably the headquarters for an- 
other buried hoard. 

A TRUE STORY OF PIRATE GOLD. 

There is a story of pirate gold connected with the South 



CHILMARK. 



197 



Beach that has largely to do with known facts. In August, 
1815, William Mayhew and a neighbor named Hancock, while 
on the beach at Queenames, found a boat from which men had 
evidently landed, as tracks led to the marsh nearby, where they 
were lost. 

That same night two men stopped at the house of Abner 
Mayhew, who lived on the beach at Squibnocket, some 5 miles 
west from where the boat was found, and there spent the night. 
They were a rough lot, and Abner fastened the door between 
the room they occupied and the rest of the house, but an In- 
dian girl who slept in the attic above saw through a crack in the 
floor that they had quantities of gold pieces which they were 
dividing and sewing within the lining of their coats. 

The next morning they asked how far it was to New York, 
and when told the distance expressed great surprise, saying 
they supposed they were on Long Island, and could walk. 
Shortly after they 
left, going to Me- 
nemsha, where they 
persuaded George 
West to take them 
across to New Bed- 
ford. They offered 
so much money that 
West felt he could 
not afford to re- 
fuse, though he was 
suspicious of them 

and took his son Flddler crab. o„ tUe .sand. 

along to help in 




198 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

emergency. During the trip over the strangers acted in such 
a way that the boatman was convinced they intended to kill 
him and take his boat. He then gave the tiller to his son, and 
with an extra tiller for a club, made of heavy oak, compelled 
the supposed pirates to get up in the bow and stay there until 
he landed them. Rev. Nymphus Hatch recorded in the West 
Tisbury church records under a certain date that George West 
"this day carried two m.en to Bedford, supposed to be pirates". 

A day or two after the men left the island the body of a 
murdered sailor was found buried in the sand near Queenames, 
but nothing further was discovered and the facts were almost 
forgotten when there came a story to the Vineyard of a dying 
sailor who had confessed that he and others coming from the 
south on a brig carrying considerable specie, had conspired 
with the mate to murder the captain, passengers and crew, 
scuttle the vessel and escape with the gold in a small boat to 
the shore. 

In due course they sighted land, which the captain said was 
Long Island, and the pirates then put their plot into execution, 
reaching the shore successfully and burying most of the money. 
Then came a quarrel. The mate wished to go one way, the 
others another, and after high words they separated, but the 
two, fearing the mate might betray them, turned back and 
killed him, burying his body in the sand. 

In the confession the ranges were given whereby the money 
could be located, but the changes in the coast line, and the 
fact that sand had washed up over the marsh made the search 
of the many treasure hunters who swarmed the region a vain 
one. 

Again years passed and the story had become a fireside 



CHILMAgK. 



199 



legend when one day two strangers arrived on foot at the house 

on the Squibnocket beach where the pirates spent the night — 

some say at the Experience Mayhew house, mentioned above 

— and requested the privilege of stopping a few days, stating 

that they were naturahsts after marine curiosities. They 

seemed to prefer the night for their search, but nothing was 

thought of that, and after remaining two or three days they 

left, walking to Holmes Hole, where they hired a wagon and 

did not return with it until after daylight next morning. When 

the marsh was visited a few days later a hole was found some 

12 feet across, and it was noticed that a line continued from the 

shore line of Barge Cove, cut exactly across the centre of the 

opening. This was one of the ranges for the buried money, 

which made it look as though the pirates had at last come into 

their own. 

POWWOW HILL. 

About a half mile east of the Gay Head line and close upon 
the road stands on the south Powwow Hill. This is presumed 

from its name to have 
been a council hill, 
where the Indians held 
dances and feasts, but 
no particular legend at- 
taches, so far as I have 
ascertained. An account 
written in 1792, and 
which quoted an Indian 
grandmother who "was 
a stout girl when the 

From the deptlis. „ . . , • 

English came to the is- 




200 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




'1 iiiu 111) a petitiou for green grass, and 
plenty of it. 



land", states that the Indian 
worship consisted of singing 
and dancing, followed by a pe- 
tition to the sun or moon to 
send the desired favor, most 
generally rain or fair weather, 
or freedom from their enemies 
or from sickness. For such a 
service a hilltop would seem *" 
to be a most excellent place. 

BIRDS THAT COME AND GO. 

A word concerning Vineyard birds should be tucked in 
somewhere, and as this is near unto the South Shore, and a 
spot much haunted by gunners, possibly this is the place. A 
sportsman who has made a study of the island birds states that 
probably over 200 varieties of all kinds have been seen on the 
Vineyard. This seems to be about the farthest south reached 
by such northern birds as the Snowy Goose, the Northern Pha- 
larope. Little Auc, Swan, Eider Duck, King Eider, Harlequin, 
Snowy Owl, Hooded Merganser and Pine Grosbeak, all of 
which have been seen on the island. While those from the 
southland numbered among our visitors are the Little Blue 
Heron, Snowy Egret, Purple Galalule, Gray Pelican, Turkey 
Buzzard, Gray Crested Fly Catcher and others. 

EXCITING TIMES FOR THE BRITISH. 

A series of scraps have been collected which, while not al- 
ways agreeing in detail, apparently started originally from the 
same source and, pieced together, make the following story: — 

During the War of 181 2 Joseph Mayhew discovered a boat 
from an English man-o'-war, or a privateer, coming in on the 



CHILMA8K. 201 

Squibnocket beach, and hastily summoned the neighboring 
farmers who dug rifle pits or sheltered themselves behind hum- 
mocks of sand and as the boat approached the shore began to 
pick off its crew. The steady firing from so considerable a 
space as the rifle pits covered seems to have given the enemy 
an impression that a large force was concealed among the sand 
dunes and after losing several men the boat drew off and re- 
turned to the vessel which then stood down the shore toward 
Gay Head, running into a fog, and probably on the Peaked 
Rocks, for she went down with part of the crew, while those 
who reached shore were made prisoners. About in a line from 
the Gay Head light to No Man's Land a brass cannon has 
more than once been brought nearly to the surface on the fluke 
of an occasional anchor, and this is supposed to have been part 
of the outfit of the Englishman. 



202 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



GAY HEAD. 

AT NOON OF NIGHT. 

Shortly after crossing into Gay Head, the highway passes 

over Black Brook, a haunt of witches and goblins, where ghosts 

have been seen even of late years. The swampy, overgrown 

nature of the ground affords ample opportunity for hiding 

places, and there seems no good reason why ghosts should not 

abide here. The water of the brook is said to be particularly 

palatable to horses. 

GAY HEAD. 

One-third of the Gay Head peninsula belonged to the Lon- 
don "Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians 
and others in North America", and Gay Head is an Indian res- 
ervation to-day. 

Professor Shaler writes that "Gay Head presents by far the 
most striking geological features on our eastern shore. * * "■'• 
These beds contain a greater variety of fossils than can be 
obtained in any other part of the coast region of New England. 

"A series of great cliffs leading down to the sea; these are 
of sands and clays having an amazing variety of colors, giving 
to the whole a brilliancy unexampled except at Alum Bay, 
Isle of Wight. Red, black, yellow, green and white, with many 
intermediate tints, are blended in bands which stand nearly 
vertical on the cliff. Some of the sands abound in sharks' 



GAY HEAD. 



203 



teeth and bones of whales, and in other monuments of another 
time. Far out to sea we may perceive by the Hnes of breakers 
where lie the remnants of the cliffs which have been eaten back 
for miles. The sands and clays melt in the ravenous waves; 




A series of great cliffs leaains down to the sea. 

the boulders are harder to grind, and remain after the rest has 
gone." 

Of this west end of the island he says it is "a region which 
wastes each year so fast that it seems as if the waves to the 
north and south would soon join hands over their finished work. 



204 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

There is an indescribable loneliness in this rugged land, with 
its sullen, helpless struggle against the sea. It is indeed a fitting 
home for the remnant of an Indian tribe. They, too, have 
waged a losing fight against the fates and have nothing but ex- 
tinction before them". 

The geological formation of these pecular cliffs, according 
to Professor Shaler, has never been accounted for. His theory 
is that the erosion work which removed the materials of these 
strata from their parent rocks was effected by glaciation, the 
ice not attaining to the place of deposition, but delivering the 
detritus to streams one or more of which debouched near this 
part of the coast into the sea or perhaps at tim.es into a lake. 
These streams bearing the detritus to its present resting place. 
According to this theory, the Gay Head cliffs were built up as 
delta formations at the mouth of a great river of the tertiary 
age, each color representing the deposit of material from a 
certain region. 

Occasionally subangular masses of sandstone are found 
embedded in the strata. Professor Shaler noted five or six 
such fragments which cannot be classed with the ordinary 
glacial boulders that often work down the slopes so as to ap- 
pear as if they were embedded in the strata. These sandstone 
pieces were apparently ice-rafted, possibly from the Connecti- 
cut Valley, 

First among the colors of the cliffs is a whitish sand, gen- 
erally composed of coarsely powdered quartz, feldspar and 
mica, such as might have been derived from the destruction of 
granite, Beds of red clay often containing masses of sand- 
stone, which have a resemblance to the red sandstone of the 
Connecticut Valley, Brown and green deposits known as 



GAY HEAD. 205 

"greensand" — these are limited to the northern end — that in 
certain parts contains numerous fossils, vertebrae of whales, 
sharks' teeth, etc. Beds of dark brown or black lignite in which 
are found fragments of trunks and branches of trees. Here are 
found iron pyrites and frequent crystals of selenite and very 
occasionally small fragments of a fossil resin in the uppermost 
beds. This resin is indistinguishable by ordinary tests from 
amber. 

Early explorers generally seem to have taken it for granted 
that the Devil's Den is the extinct crater of a volcano, and the 
inquisitive visitor can still hear such statements made. Rev- 
erend Samuel West, D. D., F. A. A., of Dartmouth, with Dr. 
William Baylies, of Dighton, and others visited Gay Head in 
June, 1786, and found many signs which to them were of vol- 
canic action, citing the fact that they found masses of charcoal 
under their feet, large stones whose surfaces were vitrified, 
and great numbers of small ones cemented together by melted 
sand ; also cinders were to be seen in many places, etc., etc. 
And then there were the fireside stories of the oldest inhabitant, 
whose mother had seen in her youth a mysterious light upon 
Gay Head. 

There are several small and unnoticed mineral springs on 
Gay Head. Some contain iron, some are charged with alum, 
and yet others are weakly tinctured with sulphuretted hydro- 
gen. This is the only part of our northern seacoast where min- 
eral springs are found. 

NO MAN'S LAND. 

Some six miles south of Gay Head lies No Man's Land, "a 
mass of glacial drift", the original "Marthae's" Vineyard, 
"which coasting along (Nantucket and south shore of Martha's 



206 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 




Vineyard) we saw a disinhabited Is- 
land which so afterwards appeared to 
us: we bore with it, and named it 
Marthae's Vineyard '•' ■•' ■■'■ heere we 
rode in eight fathome neere the shoare, 
where we took great store of Cod, as 
before at Cape Cod, but much better" 
— so reports Mr, Gabriel Archer. 

Nominally the island, which is i^ 
miles long and i mile wide, is part of 
the town of Chilmark, but the tax col- 
lector, it is said, never calls. Only one 
or two families inhabit the island the 
year around. There is no wood, but an 
abundance of peet which is used for 
fuel, though in 1702 Judge Sewall 
wrote: "No Man's Land is well watered and wooded and in- 
habited by 7th day Indians." The land is very fertile, some 
of it extraordinarily so. It is claimed that one field of grass 
has yielded so large a crop that it could not be cured on the 
surface of the field. Large white owls abound in the Winter 
season. 

The fishing about No Man's Land attracts many boats dur- 
ing the season. When the Gay Head braves hear the sea-god 
uttering his cry "Wee-wank! Wee-wank!" then is it known 
that the fish have come, and the boats push out from shore for 
the fishing grounds. On Stony Point, whose five acres are 
covered with nothing but clean stones, all the codfish caught 
about the island are placed, after being dressed, and cured by 
the sun. At times the entire five acres have been completely 



Vineyard lamb. Unlike the 

Wall Street variety thi,s 

i.s better and baa-s less 

after being skinned. 



GAY HEAD. 



207 



covered by the drying fish. The 
codfish here sustain the reputation 
given them by Mr. Gabriel Archer, 
for they are regarded as superior 
to any other in the market ; but of 
late the annual catch has been very 
small, though, as Mr. John Brere- 
ton put it "we had pestered our 
ship so with Codfish that we 
threw numbers of them overboard 
again." 

At no point on the island can 
boats ride safely at anchor, and 
there are times when, for weeks at 
a stretch, it is impossible to make a 
landing. The fishermen must haul 
their boats ashore each night, 
every boat having its boat-ladder, 
which extends to low water, and 
up which the boat is skidded to 
safety with the help of a pair of 

°^^"" GAY HEAD LIGHT. 

And now we will return to Gay Head, whose great light 
flashes comfort to the sailor. This light was established by an 
act of Congress July i6, 1798, the signature of President John 

Adams making the act a law. The ^^^P ^^.^^ ^Tf ^he oute 
oil an hour ; has f^ve concentric wicks, the diameter of the outer 
one being f^ve inches. The Fresnel lens in use made the light 
a famous'one forty years ago. It contains 1,003 Pieces of glass 




Tlie Gay Head Liglit. 



208 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

and cost $16,000. Every ten seconds a flash, every fourth flash 
being red. The present tower was built in 1857-9. 

INDIAN LEGENDS OF GAY HEAD. 

Gay Head has been so long identified with the Indian that 
about all of the legends which have survived have been fitted 
to this end of the island, which has been well supplied with 
names by the aborigines, who at various times have called it 
Catackutcho or Wuhtuhquehtunt or Wannummusit or Aquin- 
nah. 

The Indians appear to have had two fabulous giants or 
devils, Cheepii and Moshop. Not much has been handed down 
concerning the former, and what little there is would indicate 
that he was a very bad and mischievous deity. About Moshop 
most of the legends cling, and there is just enough in them to 
make it seem probable that the original Moshop was a real 
Indian, a man of parts who left his impress, and about whose 
memory was gradually collected the legends of the region. 

CHEEPII. 

Near where the Peters house now stands once stood the 
habitation of a great chief. " 'Twas dug in the side of a hill, 
with a warm southern exposure, walled up with stones, well 
roofed with wreckage from the sea, and at one end was an 
immense stone fireplace with its broad hearth. The floor was 
of beautifully pounded earth kept in a fine state of firmness and 
black polish by constant sweepings with the wonderful pock- 
web brooms." 

Here one night, in the midst of a dance, came a horrible 
noise from the adjoining cornfield. The Indians rushing out 
of doors charged the field on all sides, but were repulsed at 
every point by a fearful shape that seemed to be everywhere 



GAY HEAIX 



209 



at once, and they finally retired discomfited from before this in- 
comprehensible foe to await the coming of the dawn. 

By daylight all was quiet and peaceful, the unbroken corn 
was waving in the gentle breeze ; only around the edges of the 
field where the Indians had ventured close, was it broken down, 
and there was no sign on the ground but their own footprints. 
Then they stood amazed, and looking at each other muttered 
"Cheepii! Cheepii!" 

MOSHOP. 

Moshop is said to have originally held sway on the main- 
land where, after a fierce battle and the loss of nearly all his 
braves, he was defeated and forced to fly. Then he came to 
Aquinnah, and in a well watered place called the Den he made 
his home. The Devil's Den is a hollow in the edge of the cliff 
about 100 feet deep, and several hundred feet south of the light- 
house. It is claimed by some to be the crater of an extinct 
volcano. 

To this dwelling he brought his lovely Squant, now 01' 
SquanL, and their twelve 
beautiful daughters. 
Standing at his door he 
would catch a whale, or 
other great fish, by the 
tail and swing it up to his 
hearthstone where a fire 
always burned, constantly 
replenished by large for- 
est trees which he pulled ^,,^ GayHea,l shore. Rocks that have lallen 
up by the roots for the as tlie clitl' has been uudeniiiiieil. 

purpose. 




210 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

When the whales failed to approach near enough Moshop 
would throw great rocks into the sea on which to approach his 
victim — hence the Devil's Bridge. 

Moshop appears to have been a kindly disposed old fellow 
and a hard worker when it was necessary. The following 
legend tells how he was outwitted and his work brought to 
naught by the cunning of an old woman. Those living on the 
Vineyard wished to secure easy access to the island of Cutty- 
hunk, and begged Moshop to build a bridge across, while the 
Cuttyhunkers, who were satisfied with their home trade, and 
desired not the intrusion of foreigners, as earnestly begged him 
not to build; thus was he torn between two opinions, until 
finally his home friends prevailed and he consented, the only 
stipulation being that he was to begin at sunset and stop at 
cockcrow, whether the bridge was finished or not. This, how- 
ever, would give ample time. 

Then were they of Cuttyhunk much alarmed and exercised, 
being wholly unable to devise any means to stay his hand until 
an old woman came forward and said that if watch was kept 
and she informed when Moshop began, she would stop him. 
Her friends thought her crazy, asking how a poor, weak woman 
could stop such a great giant, when the strength of all the men 
of Cuttyhunk could not prevail against him. But she per- 
sisted, and they finally agreed. Thus a sharp watch was kept 
every sunset until finally Moshop was seen to approach the 
shore with a great rock in his hands and, as the sun took his 
evening dip in the western v/aters, to throw it far out into the 
Sound. 

Then came rocks in a shower, some as large as the greatest 
wigwams, and the bridge began rapidly to grow. All Cutty- 



GAY HEAD. 



211 




In tlie mouth of the Sound. 



hunk was soon on the beach, watching 
by the dying light of day the terrific 
pace at which Moshop worked, and it 
was only when it became too dark to 
see that they bethought them of the old 
woman and ran to her with cries and 
taunts, asking what she was going to do 
about it, but she dismissed them to their 
homes. Then went she in unto her 
cock, and passing a bright light before 
his eyes caused him to awake with the 
thought of dawn in his mind, whereupon 
he lustily began to crow and Moshop 
was, by the bargain he had made, com- 
pelled to stop his work. But the rocks remain even unto this 
day, and many a good ship has gone to pieces on the Devil's 
Bridge. 

ACCOUNTING FOR NANTUCKET. 
While Moshop was the first inhabitant of Martha's Vine- 
yard of whom there is any authentic record, these same records 
concerning him plainly show that the land was well peopled in 
his time, as witness the following : — 

Moshop was as kind hearted and wise as he was great and 
good, and to him all those in trouble came for counsel and ad- 
vice. So it came to pass that a certain maiden whose poverty 
prevented her union with the youth of her choice came to the 
Great Chief. The fathers of the young people were petty chiefs 
and equal in rank, but the one was poor, the other rich, and 
the wealthy father would not permit his son to take a poor girl 
to wife. 



212 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

The lovers, after talking the situation over, concluded that 
their only help lay in Moshop, and the girl, as the best pleader, 
was chosen to bear the petition. Then watching her oppor- 
tunity when the chief, her father, had gone on a long hunt, the 
girl started on her journey to Aquinnah, and toiling up its 
steep slopes, for the heights in those days were 500 feet or more 
above the sea, she came into the presence. She was much 
frightened to see the great man loom so tall above her, but he 
spoke gently and she finally found courage to tell her story, 
receiving a prompt promise of aid. 

It was appointed that the two lovers should meet the Giant 
on Sampson's Hill, Chappaquiddick, and there they came. 
While discussing the matter and canvassing every possible ex- 
pedient, the elder took out his pipe and began to smoke. Now 
you must know that the pipe was in accord with the size of 
the man, and that it took many bales of tobacco to fill it, so that 
when he was through and proceeded to knock the ashes out 
into the sea there arose a tremendous hissing sound and great 
clouds of smoke and vapor which filled the whole region with 
a dense fog. 

There was method in all this on the part of Moshop, but the 
lovers, who did not appreciate it, only 
thought he was a poky old giant and 
very slow to suggest a remedy for their 
very real woes. Imagine then their as- 
tonishment when, as the fog lifted, they 
beheld a beautiful island in the sea, gild- 
ed by the rising sun. 

Thus was Nantucket born to meet the 
wants of a pair of Vineyard lovers. The ^ ^^'"^" '^'^^^'' 




GAY HEAD. 213 

marriage portion being now provided the hard hearted parent 
relented and there was nothing to longer delay the ceremony 
which Moshop himself performed, and after celebrating the 
nuptials at his royal mansion in a fitting manner, he dismissed 
the pair to their new domain with his blessing. 

So in Nantucket we have the authentic proof that the great 
Moshop once lived, and while it may gall our little neighbor 
to know that it was never intended in the original order of 
things and was merely created to fill a sudden emergency, it 
yet seems best to give the facts without bias. 

Some there be who call Nantucket "The Devil's Ash Heap", 
but the reader can readily see that this is a deliberate slur born 
of malice and all manner of uncharitableness. The facts are as 
above stated. 

THE END OF THE GIANTS. 
The time came when Moshop felt he was being crowded 
out, and that there would soon be no room for such great fel- 
lows as himself. He was too good to attempt the destruction 
of others and too proud to complain, and after many sad com- 
munings with himself made up his mind to a course of action 
which, while it might remove the last remnant of his gigantic 
tribe from the earth, yet seemed for the best. By this time he 
had an infinite number of sons and daughters; these he sent 
to play on a beach which in those days joined No Man's Land to 
Gay Head. He then made a mark across the beach at each 
end with his toe, and so deep that the water flowed through and 
rapidly cut away the sands — so rapidly, indeed, that the chil- 
dren were in danger of being drowned. The boys held their 
sisters above the water. Then Moshop called and told them 
to act as though they were bent on killing whales, whereupon 



214 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

they were all turned into killers (a fish so called). For you 
must know our giant v>7as a magician as well as the fountain 
of all wisdom. 

Then he and. Squant took the trail along the beach toward 
the rising sun, and they passed Molitiah's Ledge, and the 
Peaked Rocks and Black Rock to Zaces Cliffs, and here they 
sought repose in a beach hummock and have never been 
seen more, though it is said the smoke of their camp fire is 
sometimes seen by those gifted with acute vision, and now and 
then "Or Squant" is said to appear to certain merry gentle- 
m^en returning late at night from a visit to the sick, or other- 
wise, 

INDIAN NOTES, 

Mittark was the first Indian minister at Gay Head, the son 
of Nohtoaksaet, a sachem who came from Massachusetts Bay. 
Mittark embraced Christianity in 1663, and after the death of 
his father sold, on May 10, 1687, ^11 his rights in the territory 
to Gov. Thomas Dongan, of New York, The first recorded 
deed of Squibnocket was signed by Dongan, 

It is claimed that the first church here was Presbyterian, 
but the Baptist records show that that church was organized 
on Gay Head by Thomas Mayhew, Peter Folger and others, 
about 1693. 

The Gay Head Indians spend their life on the water and 
become the most expert of boatmen. During the days of whal- 
ing they were in great demand among the whalemen as boat- 
steerers; several have become mates and a few masters of 
whaleships. 

There is a great Indian burial ground on Abie's Neck, where 
it is supposed Hiacoomes, the first converted Indian, was buried. 



GAY HEAD. 



215 




A Gay Head pasture. The Liftht iu tlie distance. 



Able Able was a 
noted Indian digni- 
tary ; his signature 
as attached to a deed 
reads: "I Able 
Able, Indian man". 

The Indians buried 
his implements of 
war and the chase 
with the dead brave, 
and with the squaw 
her household uten- 
sils, pestle and other 
articles. On the 
grave was arranged a circle of flat stones, and on these a fire 
was kept burning until the stones were red hot — this to drive 
away the evil spirit. 

From "The following Fabulous Traditions and Customs of 
the Indians of Martha's Vineyard were communicated to Benj. 
Bassett, Esq., of Chilmark, by Thos. Cooper, a half-blooded 
Indian of Gay Head, aged about sixty-five years; and which, 
he says, he obtained of his grandmother, who, to use his 
own expression, was a stout girl when the English came to the 
island" (published in. the Massachusetts Historical Collections 
for 1792) we have the following interesting account of the 
method used to stop a yellow fever epidemic : — 

"The rich; that is, such as had a canoe, skins, axes, etc., 
brought them. They took their seats in a circle ; and all the 
poor sat around, without. The richest then proposed to begin 
to lay the sickness ; and having in his hand something in shape 



216 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

resembling his canoe, skin, or whatever his riches were, he 
threw it up in the air ; and whoever of the poor without could 
take it, the property it was intended to resemble became for- 
ever transferred to him or her. After the rich had thus given 
away all their movable property to the poor, they looked out 
the handsomest and most sprightly young man in the assem- 
bly and put him. into an entire new wigwam, built of everything 
new for that purpose. They then formed into two files at a 
small distance from each other. One standing in the space at 
eacii end put fire to the bottom of the wigwam on all parts, and 
fell to singing and dancing. Presently the youth would leap 
out of the flames, and fall down to appearance dead. Him 
they committed to the care of five virgins, prepared for that 
purpose to restore to life again. The term required for this 
would be uncertain, from six to forty-eight hours ; during which 
time the dance must be kept up. When he was restored he 
would tell, that, he had been carried in a large thing high up in 
the air, where he came to a great company of white people, 
with whom he had interceded hard to have the distemper 
layed; and generally after much persuasion, would obtain a 
promise, or answer of peace, which never failed of laying the 
distemper." 

WRECK OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS. 
The unfortunate side of Gay Head is under water — the 
Devil's Bridge and lesser reefs and rocks left by the v/ashing 
away of the clifts, that make navigation of this coast dangerous. 
The most terrible disaster here was the destruction of the "City 
of Columbus", January i8, 1884. It was one of those unfortu- 
nate errors that should never have happened. The night was 
unusually clear, but at 3 145 Friday morning the man at the 



GAY HEAD. 



217 




wheel heard the order 
"hard a-port", and a mo- 
ment later the vessel 
struck on the rocks. She 
immediately filled for- 
ward, careened toward 
the port side, leaving her 
bow out of water. As 
the passengers rushed 
on deck they were swept 
off by the waves, for a 
hurricane was blowing 
though the moon shone 
brilliantly. The sea was 
making a clean sweep 
over the ship. Only one 
ship's boat, and that con- 
taining but four men, 

succeeded in reaching the shore after battling with the waves 
from 4 o'clock until nearly 7, and one of these men died from 
exposure before landing, and only one was able to crawl to the 
nearest house and send help to the others. 

The wreck was not discovered from shore until 5 o'clock. 
Then Horatio N. Pease, keeper of the light, called for volun- 
teers, of which there was no lack. A crew in a whaleboat at- 
tempted to rescue six men seen on a raft, but their boat was 
stove almost before they were off shore and they barely es- 
caped themselves — they were Thomas C. Jeffers, captain; 
Henry H. Jeffers, Raymond Madison. Thomas E. Manning, 
Charles Stevens, Simeon Divine and John O. Anthony. 



' For signal and humane exeitions in attempt- 
ins to save the passengers and ciew of 
tlie steamer City of Columlms citt' 
Gay Head, January 18. 1884." 



218 MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

The sea was so heavy that it was an impossibility to launch 
the lifeboat until 9 o'clock. At 10 o'clock the boat returned 
with seven rescued men. The crew consisted entirely of Gay 
Head Indians, who lived up to their best traditions that day. 
They were Joseph Peters, captain; Samuel Haskins, Samuel 
Anthorxy, James Cooper, Moses Cooper and John Vanderhoop. 

The second crew that manned the lifeboat also consisted of 
Indians, except the captain, who was white. This crew was 
composed of James T. Mosher, captain ; Leonard L. Vander- 
hoop, Thomas C. Jeffers, Patrick Divine, Charles Grimes and 
Peter Johnson. They had rescued thirteen men when the reve- 
nue cutter "Dexter" came up and the saved were transferred to 
her. A boat from the cutter, captained by Lieutenant John U. 
Rhodes, succeeded in rescuing four more. 

It seems hardly fair, where every man was taking his life 
in his hands and doing his utmost, to single out any individual, 
but the "Columbus" wreck can hardly be passed over without 
particular mention of Lieutenant Rhodes, "a man of quiet man- 
ners and faithful to every duty". It was impossible to rescue 
men except as they would jump and be picked up ; no boat 
could approach close to the wreck without being stove. The 
last two men hung in the rigging unable to move from ex- 
haustion. The Lieutenant waited until his boat was within 
about 30 feet of the half-submerged hull, and with a line about 
him jamped into the icy waters and swam for the vessel. When 
almost there a piece of timber struck him and he sank and was 
hauled back to the small boat, taken to the cutter, revived and 
his wound dressed ; he determined to try it again, and this time 
succeeded in reaching the ship and getting the men out of the 
rigging, taking the last living soul from the wreck. We seldom 



GAY HEAD. 219 

know what there is in the quiet folks about us until the time 
of trial comes. 

Long before the end the Squibnocket lifeboat had been 
brought over and launched and, manned by Eddy C. Flanders, 
captain ; Benjamin F. Mayhew, E. Elliott Mayhew, Wm. May- 
hew, Cyrus C. Look and Seth Walker, showed that the white 
man equaled the Indian in heroism. This enabled the Gay Head 
crew, captained by Mr. Mosher, to go ashore ; the crew, "all 
hearty, strong and rugged men, were completely exhausted". 
The Massachusetts Humane Society presented its gold medal 
to Lieutenant Rhodes "for heroic exertions at the imminent 
peril of his own life in rescuing two persons from steamer 'City 
of Columbus', January i8, 1884, off Gay Head". It also pre- 
sented its silver medal to each member of the Gay Head crews 
and its bronze medal to each member of the Squibnocket crew. 

WRECK OF THE GALENA. 

On March 13, 1891, the United States battleship "Galena", 
being towed by the tug "Nina" from the Brooklyn Navy Yard 
to Portsmouth, went on the "Peaked" rocks off the south shore 
of Gay Head. All hands were saved by an Indian crew, of 
which John Vanderhoop was captain, the Indians showing the 
usual heroism. 

We have now arrived at the end of our journey, and must 
return whence we came, and if the traveler will take the au- 
thor's advice he will return by the Middle Road, even if it is 
hilly and sandy, and discover a bit of the island for himself, for 
here is a terra incognita that the book has not touched on. It 
is likely that more buried treasure lies hereabout, why not dis- 
cover it for yourself? And if no gold is found, the road fur- 



220 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



nishes a wealth of view that is worth a trip of many miles to 
enjoy. 

"No more, no more 

The worldy shore 
Upbraids me with its loud uproar ! 

With dreamful eyes 

My spirit lies 
Under the walls of Paradise !" 




INDEX. 



221 



INDEX 



A 

Alal)ama'8 (the rebel cruiser) tirst prize. .. 48 

Aldworth, Mount 3 

Amos, Rebecca ^^^ 

Anecaotes, Edgartown 42 

Anthony, Lake ^^ 

Archer, Gabriel _2 

Athearn farm ^^^ 

Atliearn, James 1'^^ 

Athearn. Prince 1^* 

B 

Balanced Rock ^^^ 

Baptist Vineyard Association 63 

Bass Creek ^^ 

Beck's Beach 160 

Beetle Bung Corners 191 

Birds that come and go '-^00 

Black Brook, Gay Head 20'2 

Bog-ore - ]^l 

Bradley, Taylor, digs clams ^ ^ ' 

Brereton, John ^ 

Brick yard at Roaring Brook 163 

British camped on Manter Hill 101 

British done brown H^ 

Bumboat, A modern 90 

Butler tarm. The I'^l 

C 

Camp meeting grounds ^9 

Camp Meeting Herald 60 

Capawoc 

CapePoge, An incident of -^-^ 

Cape Poge, Origin of name « 

Cedar Neck ^^f 

Chappaquiddick 

Chappafiuiddick, Blue Rock of J-> 

„, iiUO 

Cheepii 



Chilraark 1^* 

Chilmark clitts 190 

Chilmark village 191 

Christian town 151 

Chunk's Hill 131 

Civil War, A tale of the 47 

Civil War note H*^ 

"Citizen", whale ship, Mention of 41 

"City of Columbus", Wreck of the 216 

Claghorn, Col. George L 161 

Class meeting m 

Clough, Capt. Benjamin 112 

Cobb, Capt. Samuel 174. 

"Constitution", Thebuilder of the frigate. .161 

Cotissimo 1*^ 

County of Dukes County 7 

Cousins, Mr ^" 

Gunners, In praise of 5» 

D 

Daggett. Leander, Stories by 147 

Daggett, Polly 106 

Daggett, Seth, house. Vineyard Haven ... 88 

Daggett, Silas ^^ 

Dancing Field, Indian Hill 1"^ 

Deep Bottom l'^9 

Dermer, Capt. Thomas ^ 5 

Devil's Bridge '^1^ 

Devil's Den ^'^^ 

Downs, William 1"' 

Dukes County, County of 7 

E 

1 72 
Early roads ' 

Earthquakes on the Vineyard 181 

East Chop light ^ 

East Chop, Wasting of »» 

Eastville 

Edgartown, Naming of 



222 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



Edgartown Harbor 13 

Edgartown' 8 oldest burying ground 22 

Epenow 3 



Fishes, Miracle of the 100 

Folger. Peter 12, 43 

Forests, Submerged 55, 149 

Forrester, Andries 7 

Forrett. James 6 

Franklin, Benjamin 12 

Freeman, Rev.Br 16 



• 'Galena", Wreck of the 219 

Gay Head, Professor Shaler on 202 

G ay Head light 207 

Geology 14, 65, 141, 157, 180, 

182, 193, 202 

"Globe", whale ship, Mention of 41 

Gold on Martha's Vineyard 3 

Gorges, Sir Ferdinando 3, 6 

Gosnold, Captain 1 

Gray, Major-Geueral, raids the island 99 

Great Harbor 9 

Great House, Vineyard Haven 88 

Gre.at storm of November, 1898 120 

H 

Harlow, Captain 3 

Hedge Stakes, Battle of 64 

Herring fishery, Mattakessett 20 

Herring lishery, Tis bury 127 

Hiacoomes 11 

Hobson, Captain 4 

Holmes Hole 94 

Holmes Hole harbor lights 84 

Home Club, The, of Ertgartowu 51 

Hudson, N.Y 38 

Huzzleton's Head 125 



Indian Hill 149 

Indian legends of Gay Head 208 

Indian name of the island 8 

Indian notes 214 

Indian remai us 136 

Indian worship 200 

Indians, Snarly haired 196 

Industries, Karly 27 



J 

Jones, James Athearn 176 

Jordan, Lake 63 

K 
Kataina Bay 15 

Katama and Mattakessett, Legend of 16 

Knitters, The 28 

L 
Lagoon 131 

Lagoon, North end of 77 

Lagoon, a proposed refuge from northeast 

storms 79 

Lagoon, The, once an inner harbor 83 

Lambert's Cove 144 

Lawrence, Capt. James 72 

Liberty Pole incident 105 

Linton, Oliver, house 73 

Little Pond 56 

Luce, Abner 101 

Luce, Benjamin N 103 

Luce, Nancy 179 

Luce, Capt. Obid 117 

M 

Makonikey 144 

Mant er, Parnel 107 

Marchant family history, A scrap of 32 

Martha's Vineyard a part of New York... 7 
Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Associ- 
ation 60 

Martha's Vineyard Rail Koad 50 

Marthae's Vineyard, The original 1, 205 

Martin's Vineyard 3 

Masonic Order on Martha's Viuej'ard 108 

Mayhew, Experience, house, Chilmark 187 

Mayhew house, Edgartown 12 

Mayhew, Deacon Simon, house, Chilmark. 191 

Maj'hew, Thomas 11 

Mayhew, Thomas, Purchase of the island.. 6 

Mayhew, Thomas, tablet 56 

Mayhews, The live missionary 12 

Menemsha 194 

Middle Ground 148 

Middletown 10 

Mill at Roaring Brook 162 

Mill. West Tisbury.... 177 

Mineral springs 205 



INDEX. 



223 



Miugo, Joe 151 

Miuk M eailows 126 

Mitt ark 11 

Mony, Baslia 137 

Moshop 209 

Moshop's bed and pillows 192 

Mosliop, Legends 66, 209 

N 

Nantucket, Accovintiug for 211 

New York and Portland boats 71 

No Man's Land 1, 205 

Nobnocket 94 

No-pe 8 

North Road 155 

North Shore, Precipitate action of 163 

Norton house, Webataqua 133 

Norton, Ichabod 77 

Norton, Richard E 4-1 

Nye house, "Vineyard Haven 87 



Oak Bluffs 59, 61 

Oak Bluffs harbor 63 

"Ocmulgee", Whale ship 47 

Oklahoma 131 

Old House Pond 149 

Osborn, Capt. Abraham 48 



Paint Mill Brook 159 

Peaked Hill 193 

Pease, Richard L 52 

Picaroons, The 103 

Pirate gold 73, 142, 152, 163, 177, 196 

Plum-pudu'rs 39 

Poge, Cape, Origin of name 8 

Point Pond, West Chop 126 

Powwow Hill 199 

Pring, Martin 2 

Prospect Hill 164 



Qnahaugs 16 

R 

Revolutionary notes 28, 33, 96, 105, 189 

Richardson, "Daddy" 77 



Roads, Early 172 

Roaring Brook 162 

S 

St. John, J. Hector 36 

Sampson's H ill 23 

Saturday Baptists 132 

Seaman's Bethel 89 

Semaphore on Sampson's Hill 23 

Semmes, Rajdiael 48 

Sengekoutacket 57 

Settlement, First 6 

Seven Gates 154 

Shaler, N. S., estate 154 

Shaler's, Professor, description of the Tis- 

bury-Chilmark country 181 

Shore line of Vineyard Haven harbor. 

Double 68 

Slocum, Capt. Joshua 179 

Smith, Capt. David and .son Nathan 109 

Smith, Ebenezer 71 

Smith, Capt. Nathan 145 

Snarly haired Indians 196 

South Beach, Edgartown 19 

Soiith Road 184 

South Shore at Chilmark 187 

Squant 209 

.Squash Meadow Pond 63 

Stepping Stones 135 

Stirling, Earl of 6 

Storm of November, 1898 120 

Submerged forests 55, 149 

Sunset Lake 63 

Swazie, Capt. Robert 34 

T 

Tarpaulin Cove and its treasure-trove 150 

Tashmoo 141 

Tea Lane 165 

Thaxter, Rev. Joseph 45 

Tilton, Capt. George Fred 155 

Tilton, Jonathan 135 

Tisbury 10 

Tisbury purchased from the Indians 173 

"Tisbury River" 182 

Tory vessels captured in Holmes Hole har- 
bor 104 

Tyasquam River 171 

Tysbnry Manuor 188 



224 



MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 



V 

Verazano 1 

Vines, Richard 7 

Vineyarrl txrove Company 61 

Vineyard Haven 86 

Vineyard Haven, Burning of 118 

Vineyard Haven, first settled 93 

Vineyard Haven liarbor 68, 69 

Vineyard Higlilands 63 

Vineyard men, A eoniplinient to 36 

' 'Vineyard Sound Biver" 65 

W 

War of 1812, Notes on the 34, 88, 109, 

147, 164, 184, 200 

Water Street, North, Edgartown 42 

Water Street, once Bass Creek, Vineyard 
Haven 1 09 



Wehataqua ,.,....., 133,136 

Wesleyan Grove 59 

West, Uncle Peter ....79, 91 

West, Peter, Another 93 

West, Dr. Thomas 131 

West Tisbury 171 

Whale ship disasters 41 

Whale ships of Edgartown 39 

Whales and Whaling 35 

Wharf, Vineyard Haven 89 

Whiting, Prof. Henry L 65, 190 

Whitson Bay 2 

Windmill, Old, Vineyard Haven 122 

Windygates 189 

Winslow, Capt. Isaac 110 

Wintucket Cove _. 54 

Worth, William Jenkins, Major-General... 47 



